Government promotes SME euro awareness

The UK government has chosen ad agency TBWA GGT Simons Palmer to kick off its £5m Euro-awareness campaign.

The agency will co-ordinate an integrated TV and direct mail campaign that should reach 1.6 million small and medium sized businesses. The first mailshots will hit doorsteps in September.

The Treasury is particularly worried about levels of euro awareness amongst SMEs. A March survey by the department found that only 11 per cent of SMEs were aware that the new currency would come into effect in January. Only five per cent had taken action.

"Even where preparations have been made, it's usually only practical preparations like checking accounting systems and software," said a Treasury spokesman. The government wants to encourage businesses to think strategically, and focus on how the euro will impact pricing, packaging and marketing.

Some businesses have already got the message. In the last two weeks, the Treasury has received about 1,500 calls to its helpline and 2,000 posted requests for information. In a single week, it had 12,000 hits on its euro website.

The Treasury admits that the campaign has come too late. "A lot of the speeches out there will tell you that the previous government took virtually no action at all," said a Treasury spokesman. "In an ideal world we would have wanted to get [the message] out sooner."

The Treasury's euro helpline can be contacted at 08456 010199 or www.euro.gov.uk.