Royal Mail reappoints AMV and Proximity (ACCOUNTANTS)

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Articlex ... imity.html

Royal Mail has extended its relationship with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and Proximity London to handle the company’s above and below-the-line accounts respectively for another four years.

The new contracts follow a statutory review of the accounts. AMV BBDO fought off competition from Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and Leagas Delaney, while Proximity successfully pitched against EHS Brann, Tequila and Rapier.

Royal Mail has also appointed Wolff Olins, the agency behind the London 2012 Olympic imagery, to handle its brand development.
Banner Ad

Tom Hings, director of brand marketing at Royal Mail, said: "We are delighted to have finalised our above and below the line agency roster review after a thorough and competitive process over the past few months.

"The agencies that pitched for the work demonstrated a good understanding of our needs and their work was of an extremely high standard which made our decision particularly difficult.

“However, after careful consideration, we have recruited a team of agencies that we feel will best support the integrated marketing needs of Royal Mail as it continues to meet the challenges of a fully competitive postal market."

[Stormproof]

Royal Mail has also appointed Wolff Olins, the agency behind the London 2012 Olympic imagery, to handle its brand development.

and what a success that was

[DGP1]

above and below-the-line accounts

I've done a bit of accountancy but I've never heard of below the line accounts, as far as I'm aware there are only accounts otherwise the tax man gets a bit upset and fines you for false accounting.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

above and below-the-line accounts

I've done a bit of accountancy but I've never heard of below the line accounts, as far as I'm aware there are only accounts otherwise the tax man gets a bit upset and fines you for false accounting.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/defin ... -line.html

Below the line

Definition 1

Accounting: Items in an account which are excluded from the account total, such as appropriations and extraordinary items that have no effect on the profit or loss in the current accounting period.

[jemima]

Below-the-line items are things that don't directly affect the final figure for profit and loss.
For example, how profit is being used or how debts are financed.
Those things are important to get straight. Or you might find you have an unexpected problem with cash flow.

[BELIAL]

Appropriation is a very useful tool if you want to paint a particular picture. As last years auditors stated ,appropriation was carried out on an arbitrary basis,ie the industry is segmented and costs and revenues are decided at will,so black could be red and vice versa , whatever suits your ultimate purpose. Whats real? not RM figures according to their independent auditors!

[jemima]

Yes, some things can be hidden in the parts that aren't made public (Royal Mail Estates Ltd. that now holds nearly all property assets, etc.). But the books should balance overall. If they don't there should be a public enquiry.

[F0zziebear]

Time for a little bit of RM Marketing:

1. Royal Mail had a habit of employing the largest agencies to do the marketing for a monopoly. Madness I know. We also had a habit of going into these agencies telling them what are budget was and surprise surprise the advertising they did for us used up the whole budget. This is partly why you got stupid CGI effects on TV adverts as a way to justify the huge marketing budget.

In Royal Mail unless you use your budget there is a big chance it will get taken away. A classic example of inefficient use of public money that happens across the entire public sector.

2. There are numerous over-paid marketing middle-management who manage these accounts, and have the wool pulled over their eyes. I thought this had stopped but obviously not.

3. The same large agencies who were doing all the ATL and BTL line have won the new contracts. Don't ask me how considering the Chief Exec. is a former Marketing whizz kid at Saatchi & Saatchi you'd think this was a part of the company that knew what it was doing. It also has a former European Marketing Director for Orange called Alex batchelor running the show for the last 2 1/2 yrs.

I am disappointed to see what has happened.

However, one should point that a review of this area saw that The Post Office Ltd was actually get a much better deal from these agencies than Royal Mail. Yes we have two marketind departments one for PO and one for RM Letters. I just hope the new contracts have been written better, and managed better. However, with a change in personnel to manage these I have my doubts.

Hope this provides some light on the matter

p.s. If RM is delivering 99% of Mail then you may ask why there is a need to psend so much on marketing in general? The DSA companies rely on RM to deliver their accounts, so no RM no Mail full-stop. Might be about time that TNT, DHL, Uk Mail etc... spent more on their advertising won more contracts and then paid RM more to deliver their mail. Wonder what people think about that?

F0zz in the trenches

[jemima]

p.s. If RM is delivering 99% of Mail then you may ask why there is a need to psend so much on marketing in general? The DSA companies rely on RM to deliver their accounts, so no RM no Mail full-stop. Might be about time that TNT, DHL, Uk Mail etc... spent more on their advertising won more contracts and then paid RM more to deliver their mail. Wonder what people think about that?

RM collecting and delivering systems aren't separate, they normally use the same offices/vans/lorries/posties etc in synergy, which makes the system as a whole very cost-efficient. So a reduction in RM mail-gathering would mean increasing DSA delivery costs by quite a lot to make DSA cost-effective. Postcomm probably wouldn't like that.

Re marketing expenses - I haven't seen any details anywhere about £s returned in business for £s spent. Is any information available?