OMD scoops $100m global Siemens business

Siemens, the electronics and telecoms giant, called the review in June and shortly afterwards shortlisted MindShare, Universal McCann, OMD and Carat to pitch for the consolidated media account.

The final shortlist was reduced to two and saw OMD compete with the Aegis Group-owned Carat for the account.

Publicis-owned Optimedia handles the bulk of the Siemens business in the UK, where it spent more than £5m last year. The Optimedia subsidiary Connexus negotiated sponsorship of the ITV gameshow 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' for Siemens Mobile Devices last week.

Optimedia also handles elements of the Siemens business in a number of other territories, including France, Argentina, Australia and Germany.

Last November, McCann-Erickson ousted J Walter Thompson from the international account for Siemens Mobile Devices. McCann's business-to-business division subsequently picked up the account for Fujitsu-Siemens.

The two account wins comes just weeks after OMD lost the $600m Gillette global media account to MindShare.

Yesterday, it was reported on Brand Republic that Sony had awarded OMD its media business for Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Pictures and Sony Consumer Electronics, but not Sony PlayStation. It was last night refusing to confirm the appointment.

In an official statement, Aldo Liguori, a spokesman for Sony, said: "Sony Europe, jointly with Sony Music Entertainment Europe, Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International and Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, confirms that it has entered into final discussions with OMD Europe regarding the media buying and planning review it has conducted. An announcement will be made subject to the outcome of these final discussions. No other details are available at this time."

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This article was first published on brandrepublic.com