Cisco rejigs support

Matt Cartmell, PR Week UK, Friday, 01 October 2010, 12:00am,

Cisco Systems is holding pitches to combine its UK, Ireland and pan-European PR work into a single account.

Brands2Life currently handles the global tech firm's European work, while Octopus handles UK and Ireland.

Cisco has held pitches this week for the co-ordinated UK, Ireland and European account. The brief will also include Cisco's Tandberg and Webex video conferencing brands Brands2Life, Octopus, Text 100 and Nelson Bostock are all understood to be in the running. The brief is believed to be worth in the region of £600,000 a year.

Cisco head of PR for European markets Heather Dickinson said: 'Cisco is constantly reviewing ways to streamline the efficiency of its operations. As such, we have taken the decision to consolidate our UKI, pan-European, Tandberg and Webex agencies under one vendor.'

Octopus won the UK and Ireland brief in 2008, and it is thought to be worth £250,000 alone. At the same time, Brands2Life took over Cisco's European work from Harvard PR.

In April, Cisco appointed Text 100 Sydney as its agency for its consumer products account in Australia.