J. Walter Thompson has lost its hold on Siemens Mobile Devices'
£70 million international account, following a realignment of the
business into McCann-Erickson Worldwide.
JWT lost creative leadership of the Siemens business when Wieden &
Kennedy Amsterdam was appointed to create a series of six ads last
November. However, the agency has since continued to work on the
account, adapting W&K's work for local markets across the globe. Siemens
spent £18 million through JWT in the UK last year.
McCann will now be asked to co-ordinate all global above- and
below-the-line activity in addition to the PR business already handled
by the network through the "corridor company", Weber Shandwick. The
account will be handled by McCann's Berlin agency, with major activity
expected to be concentrated in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the
UK.
In a statement, Siemens said the review had been undertaken to
streamline its marketing and communications arrangements. It confirmed
that Wieden & Kennedy would remain the lead creative agency for all
above-the-line campaigns.
It is not clear whether the review will affect the position of Scholz &
Friends, which picked up the UK domestic appliance business in June.
