Avanade hires Lewis PR to replace JBA

PR Week UK, Tuesday, 13 December 2005, 10:03am,

Microsoft and Accenture’s joint consulting venture has changed its agency representation as it bids to boost awareness of its brand across Europe.

Avanade, a five-year-old company that specialises in Mircosoft products, has brought in Lewis PR to replace JBA Public Relations, the firm's consumer PR agency since its inception.

'We needed a bigger agency geographically,' said George Thaw, global V-P of the £280m annual turnover firm. 'The core brief is to drive UK business - but also to help us expand further into Europe later in 2006.'

Avanade is wholly owned by Microsoft and Accenture and targets itself at 'the 2,000 largest organisations using Microsoft products worldwide.' Its clients include AstraZeneca the London Stock Exchange, Tesco and Twentieth Century Fox.

Lewis beat JBA, plus Edelman, Fuse PR and Firefly Communications, to secure the brief.