Damovo, the direct sales firm spun out of the Swedish technology
giant Ericsson, has handed its first PR account to Big PR following a
competitive pitch.
The firm was created last month when investment fund Apax Partners
bought a majority share in Ericsson's direct sales and service
operation. The operation last year turned over around £627m and
now has 2,700 staff and 21,000 clients globally.
Big PR will launch the company in the 19 countries in which Ericsson
operates.
Damovo plans to introduce other manufacturers' products into its
offering. It provides voice and data services and mobile
technologies.
The account will be headed by Big PR managing director Nina Gardiner,
who will report to Damovo V-P of marketing Joanne James.
Big PR account director Richard Cook said the work was in two areas.
Firstly, the agency will co-ordinate PR activity in territories from
Latin America to Australia working with local partners.
'Some places have quite advanced PR operations, others like eastern
Europe do not have a PR machine in place, so we are building an
international structure - working with agencies that exist and looking
at internal resources,' Cook said.
The second part is creating the right messages for each territory and
running B2B media relations in the UK.
Cook said one challenge would be devising campaigns to balance the local
PR needs with international ones. He also said the parlous state of the
telecoms sector should favour Damovo.
'The fact the telecoms sector is in something of a state of confusion is
an opportunity. We have a strong vision to communicate,' he said.
