The UK arm of Japanese electronics giant Sanyo has handed its
pounds 150,000 annual consumer PR account to Meridian PR.
Meridian was appointed without a competitive pitch on the strength of
previous project work it had done.
The agency replaces Link PR whose managing director, Anna Broughton, was
previously publicity manager for Sanyo. Broughton still works as a
consultant for some Sanyo commercial products, but not on consumer
electronics.
The four-strong account team is jointly headed by the agency’s managing
director Lisa Daitz and account manager Susan Leigh. The team will
report to Sanyo’s general manager for marketing Peter Eldon and
communications manager Mark Ebsworth.
The win leaves Meridian as Sanyo’s only UK PR agency for consumer
electronics, although the firm’s commercial and other divisions use
other agencies for specific projects. Public affairs are handled by the
in-house communications team without a dedicated person or agency in
place. No financial PR agency is retained in the UK, since the company’s
Japanese parent is only listed in Tokyo.
Meridian’s remit will cover trade and consumer PR, internal
communications and product launches over the next year. Products
Meridian will work on include televisions, videos, stereos and digital
cameras, as well as household appliances such as microwave ovens and
vacuum cleaners.
The work will also include raising the profiles of Sanyo’s two UK
factory sites, at Lowestoft and Sunderland.
