Bloomberg LP on the lookout for creative agencies

Bloomberg LP has reached out to creative agencies to develop its biggest marketing campaign to date for its brands portfolio. In a request for information sent out to agencies, Bloomberg said it's looking to establish an agency-of-record agreement with either a single full-service shop or a group of specialty ones. The agency or agencies will be responsible for a range of marketing duties, including "corporate identity and design, advertising, media, digital, events and demand generation" across its various media properties.

Those properties include Bloomberg the newswire; Bloomberg TV, a 24-hour business channel; Bloomberg radio on XM and Sirius satellite radio; Bloomberg Markets magazine and, of course, its new acquisition from McGraw-Hill, BusinessWeek - although the property was not named in the RFI. Bloomberg said its agency partners would preferably be New York-based and with capabilities in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Bloomberg said its agency partners would preferably be New York-based and with capabilities in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

The search comes five months after Bloomberg hired its first chief marketing officer, Maureen McGuire, a marketing vet of Sears Holdings and IBM.
 
Although Bloomberg is a giant in financial and market data through the eponymous terminals that it leases to trading professionals, its terminal revenue has been slowing.

Bloomberg is looking to change that, however, with BusinessWeek. By adding the newsweekly to its portfolio, the company hopes to give its journalists better access to corporate and political newsmakers, thus strengthening its audience reach and credibility across its media platforms.
Based on submissions from agencies, Bloomberg said it would narrow the field to a "short list" of agencies that would receive a "detailed request for proposal."

Bloomberg spent a modest $1.3 million on media in 2008, down from $2 million in 2007 and down slightly from its 2006 spend of $1.4 million, as per Nielsen. About half of the 2008 spending went to support the company's cable TV and business services. (Figures are US only and don't include online spending.)

As it gets ready to officially take ownership of BusinessWeek magazine, Bloomberg is looking for help with global branding and advertising across its portfolio of media properties.