Price Coopers’ merger job goes to two agencies

Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the international management consultancy

and accountancy giant, has appointed two advertising agencies to handle

a worldwide campaign aimed at creating a new identity and raising global

awareness of the new organisation.

The estimated dollars 60m (pounds 36m) account will be handled by

Ammirati Puris Lintas (APL) and US agency Hill Holliday Connors

Cosmopolus (HHCC) - both owned by the Interpublic Group - and is

expected to be launched early next year.

The campaign will be led by executives from both agencies. HHCC is

expected to lead the way in creating the campaign and APL in launching

it. HHCC has previous advertising experience in the sector and APL’s

network spans 80 countries.

The appointment of the two agencies followed the involvement of several

Interpublic companies which advised on external communications during

the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, which created

Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The merger will formally be completed at the

beginning of November.

The campaign will focus primarily on creating a visual identity and new

logo for the merged firm. It will be advertised chiefly through company

recruitment ads and within industries in which the company is

active.

The merger has created the biggest consultancy company in the world,

with 135,000 staff and 8500 partners. It will also have 150 offices

around the world.

The consultancy sector is becoming increasingly competitive. Andersen

Consulting and Deloitte & Touche have sunk millions into branding

campaigns and a dollars 100m (pounds 60m) global Ernst & Young campaign

is due to break in the late autumn.

This article was first published on Marketing