NEWS: PR EUROPE

BRUSSELS: Interel is a first for Ameritech

Ameritech International, the US telecommunications company, has named

Interel as its first retained PR agency in Europe. Three other

consultancies -Burson-Marsteller, Ogilvy Adams and Rinehart and a local

Belgian firm - also pitched for the business. Interel will run a pan

European corporate campaign for the company, which opens its European

headquarters in Brussels next month. In March it acquired 17 per cent of

Belgacom, Belgium’s privatised telecommunications firm.

PARIS: Philippine Airlines grounds PR budget

Philippine Airlines has scrapped plans to hire PR and advertising

agencies to promote its Airbus flights between Paris, Bangkok and Manila

(PR Week, 26 July). The airline had been due to make appointments in

time for the route’s launch in September. According to sources,

Philippine Airlines’ headquarters in Manila could not release the

necessary budget and has delayed the selection process until at least

next year.

BELFAST: Leipziger to promote IDB’s aims

The Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland has picked

Frankfurt-based consultancy Leipziger und Partner to run its PR in

Germany over the next two years. The appointment follows a call for

tender in July. Two other firms were shortlisted for the contract: Text

100 and incumbent Shandwick, which held the account for six years.

Working with the IDB’s office in Dusseldorf, Leipziger und Partner will

help raise awareness of Northern Ireland as a business location by

forming contacts with the press and opinion formers, organising business

seminars and producing a newsletter. The contract is worth about pounds

140,000 a year in fees and is renewable for up to one year.

HELSINKI: GCI Eminence wins ICL Fujitsu job

ICL Fujitsu, the computer company formed in July by ICL and its majority

shareholder Fujitsu, has hired GCI Eminence to manage its public

relations in Finland. The agency, which clinched the account following a

competitive pitch, will attempt to raise the new firm’s corporate

profile through a media relations programme. GCI has also been charged

with running internal communications for the 800 people employed at ICL

Fujitsu’s PC assembly plant at Espoo. Product promotion will be handled

separately by ICL subsidiary ICL Data.

HAMBURG: Kohtes und Klewes expansion

Kohtes und Klewes is to set up a new branch in Hamburg. The office,

which is due to open on 1 October, will specialise in product marketing

and corporate PR. It will be jointly managed by Kerstin Molthan and

Dietrich Schulze van Loon, who quit as managing director of IPR&O last

month. Kohtes und Klewes already has offices in Dusseldorf, Bonn,

Dresden and Frankfurt.

LONDON: FD makes German alliance

Financial Dynamics has teamed up with Frankfurt-based corporate and

financial PR firm B&L. FD managing director Julian Hanson-Smith said the

two firms are working together on several accounts including Triumph-

Adler and that they will launch a joint marketing initiative later this

year. Meanwhile Frederic Lema”tre, formerly of French agency Medias

Finances, has joined FD to work on international business.

edited by John-Pierre Joyce