Intel shifts global creative account out of McCann Erickson

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 14-Jan-09, 09:00

LONDON - Intel has shifted global creative duties on its brand image from Interpublic's McCann Erickson Worldwide to the smaller, independent agency, Venables Bell & Partners, in a surprise move.

Venables Bell & Partners, which is based in San Francisco, will become the company's lead global creative agency, responsible for creating brand and corporate campaigns rather than product-focused ads.

It is believed the account is worth anywhere between $50m (£34m) and $150m (£103m) in billings, as Intel has not confirmed its budget for 2009.

The move is part of alignment of Intel's marketing strategy, as it focuses on handing responsibility for its advertising to a group of agencies rather than one advertising network, which it has called an "open-source" model of relationships.

McCann became agency of record for Intel in 2005, but since then the technology company has hired several additional agencies, among them two owned by the Omnicom Group; Doremus and OMD, and Microsoft's Razorfish.

McCann Worldgroup's MRM will serve as the web production agency for Intel.com.

Paul Venables, co-creative director at Venables Bell, told the New York Times that the agency might work with another agency to assist in producing work for overseas markets.

He said the agency could seek "a partner that will help on work to be distributed around the world and tailored to individual markets".