Lego awards Rainey Kelly global creative business

Rainey Kelly won the business after a three-way pitch against McCann-Erickson and Leo Burnett, following a decision taken in the summer to create a united worldwide communications strategy for the toy giant.

Lego parted company with Bartle Bogle Hegarty -- the agency behind its award-winning "box" ad -- in July 1999 and handed its global advertising brief to Ammirati Puris Lintas. It has also been working with McCann-Erickson on a global corporate project.

It is understood that media will continue to be handled on a market-by-market basis. Starcom Motive remains the incumbent for the £24m account in northern European, which includes the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Rainey Kelly will replace Lowe Partners, New York, which has to date handled much of Lego's creative work, which has then been adapted for other markets.

The review was handled through Lego's headquarters in Billund, Denmark. The appointment marks a period of frenzied communications activity for Lego. The company is also currently undertaking a global PR review to back up its efforts to become the world's leading children's brand by 2005.

Lego currently retains Golin/Harris International and its network of overseas affiliates to handle PR for the firm in northern Europe, reporting to PR head for the territory Danielle Hainauer.

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This article was first published on brandrepublic.com