With the specific aim of appointing its very first retained digital agency Virgin Media is currently holding agency pitches to help expand its activities in digital marketing.

Direct marketing activities for Virgin Media are currently being handled by Rapier and the media company said that its current expansion attempt would not affect its relationship with the marketing firm. The appointment of another marketing agency to its digital account would, however, come as quite a blow to Rapier according to a number of digital agency sources.

Around £40 million of Virgin media’s above-the-line business was consolidated into Y&R/Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe last month. The recent ad campaign for Virgin’s 50Mbps broadband TV ads were created by Rapier, although the latest animated ads that features Mick Hucknall, Spice Girl Melanie B and Kelly Osbourne were thought up by Rainey Kelly.

In order for Virgin Media to work out how it could work with digital agencies to expand its digital marketing activities it has confirmed that it is talking to several of these digital agencies at the moment. Much of the work Virgin Media has carried out with agencies has been on a per project basis, like the work carried out on its 50Mbps broadband activity with Start Creative.

‘We’re working on a number of exciting digital initiatives for 2009, including campaigns in support of the V Festival and Virgin Media Shorts. As we continue to drive our digital strategy forward, we are talking to a range of agencies to understand how they can best support us throughout 2009 and beyond,’ said a spokesperson for Virgin Media.

A recent internal review that was led by Ashley Stockwell, the recently appointed managing director of brand and marketing, has resulting in virgin deciding to consolidate.