FOLLOWING the loss to McCann Erickson of the long-running SuperValu business that was reputed to be worth some 50% of the company's revenues, advertising agency Grey Helme has made several employees redundant, eliminated its PR arm GH Communications and has the company produced by the 2004 merger between international agency Grey Advertising and homegrown player The Helme Partnership facing pressure from holding company WPP to merge with another WPP "rm.

Grey Helme MD Phillip Sherwood acknowledged that there had been job cuts but would not say how many, though industry sources put the "gure at around nine. He said the GH Communications PR unit had been underperforming.

He acknowledged that the loss of SuperValu after a 13-year relationship had hurt the "rm, and said it had to adjust to changing conditions. He said that if there was a prospect of Grey Helme merging with another WPP "rm he wasn't aware of it.

In the 15 months to the end of December 2005, Grey Helme made a loss of 92,000 on turnover of nearly 8m, according to accounts "led with the Company Records Of"ce.

OUT TO PITCH BORD Failte, AIB . . . some presentations in the same week.

Brian Sparks is pitch doctor on both.

Rumour has it Bank of Ireland is waiting to see who AIB picks before going through its own pitch process.

THE POWER OF LIVE

NOTHING like live TV to bring out the best in people, as when Loyalist killer Michael Stone turned up at Stormont on Friday morning and threw what looked like an explosive device at the front doors, live on RTE, Sky and BBC. We'll get back to you next week to report how many hits the clip gets on YouTube.

It seems that all that art therapy and Late Late Show interviews haven't done him much good.

DEFT DAFT KEEPS IRISH EYES

PROPERTY website Daft. ie saw a 40% increase in traffic to its website in the past three months, making it the most-visited website in Ireland, according to "gures by auditors ABC Electronic, ahead of Eircom. net, RTE, MyHome. ie and Propertynews. com.

Publius does wonder, however, how much stock to put in the numbers, given that audits for the other websites listed are conducted in different months.

GREAT SCOT, IT'S HUGE

HUMBLE pie is seldom on the menu at Bank of Scotland (Ireland), which rebrands as Halifax tomorrow. But the pushy new arrival has toned down the advertising for its monthly saver account. Previously billed as the best available, its 6.2% rate of interest is now more modestly described as "huge". Could be the volte-face has something to do with the fact that AIB pays 6.34% interest and may have noticed its rival's claim.

YOUR NEW GIRLFRIEND

ONE of our favourite ads at the moment is a delightfully misogynistic online execution by Brando for Irish Broadband, Girlfriend in a Box. The interactive film clip of a pretty young thing encased in virtual plastic encourages you to push her button so as to elicit an orgasmic catch of breath followed by a series of statements like, "My father's invited us to tour his brewery . . . d'ya fancy it?"

Well, that's the least racy, anyway. It's followed by musings about buying a French maid's out"t, requests to videotape pillow"ghts with "hottie friend accessories" and other thoughts on her love of ironing, pizza and football on the telly.

There is a 'boyfriend in a box' version, presumably to defend against a charge of sexism. We assume this will wind up on Liveline at some point this week, but then again the angry Father Ted-worthy character in Leitrim with a typewriter who decides Ireland's advertising standards with a single complaint to the ASAI may not have broadband.

Either way, we think that brave clients should be rewarded with proper attention.

www. irishbroadband. ie/girlfrien dinabox

HAPPY THANKSGIVING MASSACRE SPEECHWRITERS in the Department of Finance were narrowly spared embarrassment on Thursday when the audience at the American Chamber of Commerce Thanksgiving lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel proved too polite to correct a faux pas in the prepared remarks of Brian Cowen.

Amid remarks of suitably festive cheer, in which Cowen reassured big American corporate giants in pharmaceuticals, technology, "nancial services and airlines that the budget would be tailored to their desire for better infrastructure and bettereducated workers, Cowen reminded the audience of the origins of the holiday, which he said took place nearly 400 years ago, in Virginia.

The "rst Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The "rst British attempt to colonise Virginia, Roanoke, didn't have such a happy ending. It's known as the Lost Colony, as its 115 settlers and two Americanborn babies were last seen in 1587 before disappearing, presumed massacred by Indians.

WOULD YOU BUY INSURANCE FROM THIS GUY?

MICHAEL McDowell's visage is becoming only slightly less iconic than Mao, and presumably we're going to be seeing a lot more in the run-up to the general election. We got a taste this week as the Progressive Democrats unveiled the Bon"re-created and Mediaworks-placed billboard on car insurance.

Funnily enough, it's hard to pin down some other agencies about who is working with the various political parties. Gone are the days when you did the campaign work and waited in hopes of a victory for your client, which would be followed by payment . . . or at least an, erm, advantage in pitching for semi-state business. Damned EU procurement regulations.

TIPS, BRIBES & ABUSE all welcome at rdelevan@tribune. ie