Advertising agencies seeking to win Sky Networks' £10m a year contract will need to go beyond the traditional 30-second TV spot and know how to harness MySpace, according to Sky's director of marketing.
Alex Lewis said she would be looking for an agency to take on the marketing briefing for Sky's TV channels with the ability to use new media and work across traditional advertising media as well as direct marketing.
Ms Lewis added these attributes were, if anything, more important than the winning agency's size or whether it was part of a larger marketing and advertising network.
The winning agency will be responsible for developing marketing strategy and campaigns for channels including Sky One, Sky Movies and Sky Arts.
"It is less about size and network, for me it is about agency culture and the fit with Sky," says Ms Lewis.
"The brief has advertising at its heart, the ability to generate creative ideas that work through the line and especially new media - we have lots of good learnings from marketing we have done with the likes of MySpace."
In November, BSkyB struck a deal with MySpace to make the first two episodes of the new season of Lost available to watch online, free of charge.
"Creative agility is the key," added Ms Lewis. "Agencies will need to demonstrate strategic input with channel heads and strategic direction on a cross-channel brief. Sky doesn't really need lots of TV ads."
Ms Lewis said Sky was looking to appoint a single agency. Beattie McGuinness Bungay, the agency that previously handled the Sky One account, has declined to pitch for the overarching advertising brief.
Ms Lewis's pitch for a new ad agency has in part been prompted by the need to reinvigorate the positioning of the channels after a string of management changes at Sky - such as the departure of head of channels and services, Dawn Airey.
"Dawn was the creative face of Sky and there is now a need to make its content more resonant," said one ad agency chief close to the Sky business.
In addition there is an increasing recognition at Sky that following the Virgin row, and the acquisition of heavyweight shows such as Lost, that Sky One in particular is in the spotlight more than ever.
"Content is at the heart of Sky's strategy and channels like Sky One are a great way of getting people into Sky," says Ms Lewis, a former marketer for phone directory service 118 118. "The spotlight has never been as bright as it is now."
The plan is to have the pitch completed and launch a new campaign by July, to coincide with Sky's new financial year and a series of key developments for a range of Sky's channels.
Sky Arts has just rebranded with a commissioning process that that will see only high-definition programming featured, Sky Movies has just rebranded and Sky One has its autumn lineup to promote.
Ms Lewis said that she has already drawn up a long list of potential agencies to meet to vie for the business, with the only confirmed agency WCRS.
WCRS dramatically won the bulk of the £75m Sky business from Sir Martin Sorrell's now defunct agency United London.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
