Lego to centralise £60m ad account

Lego, the toy manufacturer, is putting its estimated £60

million worldwide creative and media planning account out to pitch.

The move signifies a more united worldwide communications strategy for

Lego.

The toy giant is in early stages of talks with a number of global

creative agency networks about the task. It is asking pitching agencies

to provide details of potential media planning partners.

It is understood that the company will not have one centralised global

media buying agency, as the toy giant's media buying activities are

handled on a region-by-region basis. Individual media buying

arrangements will continue to be conducted in different markets.

Starcom Motive remains the incumbent for the £24 million Northern

European business, which includes the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Belgium,

Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The agency won the brief after a

three-way pitch against Initiative Media and the incumbent, CIA

Medianetwork, in January last year.

The bid to find a global agency partner is one of two briefs put out by

the toy manufacturer. The company has also been searching for a suitable

international design company partner, and it is believed the pitch for

this has already taken place.

Lego parted company with Bartle Bogle Hegarty - the agency responsible

for the company's award-winning "box" ad - in July 1999 and handed its

global advertising brief to Ammirati Puris Lintas. It also appointed

McCann-Erickson to a global corporate project in January last year. To

date, much of Lego's creative work has been handled by Lowe Lintas &

Partners in New York, and subsequently adapted for other markets.

Lego is sold in about 60,000 outlets in 130 countries. It employs around

10,000 people in 30 countries.

The review is being handled through Lego's headquarters in Billund,

Denmark.

No-one was available for comment as Campaign went to press.

This article was first published on Campaign