INTERNATIONAL: Austrian telecoms firm appoints Aces International

VIENNA: Austrian telecoms firm Kapsch has hired Aces International

PR to handle all its PR in Germany, Russia and the Ukraine.

The account was won last week after a non-competitive pitch and will

last for a year. It will be co-ordinated by Aces Vienna, liaising with

the agency’s offices in Kiev, Moscow and Berlin. The account will be led

by Aces group president Klaus Peterman.

The agency was selected for the account after handling PR for Kapsch’s

’Anticipating the Future’ IT exhibition in Germany last spring. The

centrepiece for the event in Hanover was a live video and audio

connection with cosmonauts from Russian space station MIR.

Peterman said: ’Kapsch has never used an agency for a project of this

size before.’ Kapsch’s PR director Brigette Herdlicka declined to

comment on the appointment.

Kapsch is listed on the Vienna stock exchange and is headquartered in

the city. The company employs over 1,000 people in Austria. It

manufactures land-line telephones for private and business clients, but

not mobile phones. It reported an annual turnover of pounds 197 million

in 1997.