i-level goes into administration

Posted on 06. May, 2010 by Sarthak in Current Affairs

i-level, a prominent UK based digital marketing company, has gone into administration after losing a government contract for advertising followed by severe cash flow problems.

The 10-year-old agency lost the Government’s multi-million-pound digital media account to Sir Martin Sorrell’s GroupM in February, which accounted for some £40m of billings, equalling 40% of the agency’s total turnover. i-level had been handling this business for a decade.

i-Level’s clients included Orange and Samsung, and was founded in 1999 by Andrew Walmsley and Charlie Dobres. In spring 2008 they sold a 60 per cent stake to ECI, a private equity group, in a £45m ($68m) deal.

Your author, who is also into internet based affiliate marketing, got to know about this today when he received emails from LoveFilm and Comet – two prominent i-level clients – saying that i-level’s going into administration will not affect their earnings in any manner. The following is an extract from the email he received from Orange:

Hi Sarthak,

With the recent announcement about the incumbent agency i-level, Orange has agreed with i-level to transition the account to MEC as of immediate effect.

Orange would like to re-assure affiliates that promotion and payment of the Orange product offering will remain as normal.

The agency has about 140 employees, in disciplines including online display advertising, search marketing, social media and mobile marketing.

Latitude, another UK digital specialist, also went into administration in January after struggling with debts racked up during the boom years of the mid-2000s.

Sources: FT, Mediaweek

Tags: digital marketing, i-level, internet marketing, online advertising, UK