BT has switched its multi-million pound European PR account to Hill
and Knowlton after six years with Countrywide Porter Novelli.
The agency was appointed two weeks ago following a two-way pitch against
the incumbent.
The account will run from April 1997 and is worth ’several million
pounds over the next four years’ according to H&K. Industry sources put
the fees at just over pounds 1 million a year - a considerable increase
on the pounds 300,000 figure reported when Countrywide successfully
re-pitched for the business in 1994.
H&K offices will handle implementation work in eight markets: Belgium,
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland.
The work was previously handled by Porter Novelli partner agencies
except in Germany and France where local support was provided by Fink
and Fuchs and Tam Tam respectively.
The brief is to help establish BT as an alternative supplier to national
PTTs in the run-up to liberalisation of the telecoms market in January
1998 and to provide marketing support to its joint venture partners such
as Viag in Germany.
Ian Ash, BT director of corporate relations, said the review had been
prompted by two factors: the liberalisation of the telecoms market and
the proposed BT/MCI merger.
’H&K presented a strategy and a network which we believe will drive our
communications in Europe to the next stage,’ he added.
