±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The Omnicom Group-owned agency pitched against six agencies for the work -- Wieden & Kennedy; DDB Worldwide; Hill Holliday; and Saatchi & Saatchi. Originally, there was a field of 19 agencies contending for the business. The account is worth an estimated $50m-$75m (£31.3m-£47m).

The agency is also reported to be in the running for AOL's corporate advertising business, which was handled by the New York agency Gotham for eight years until AOL announced the review in January. BBDO will pitch against Wieden & Kennedy Portland, the agency behind many of Nike's award-winning spots, for the work.

BBDO has already done some work for AOL, creating AOL Broadband commercials to air during the Super Bowl in January and the Daytona 500 NASCAR motor race in February. It has also prepared ads for the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony.

Len Short, executive vice-president of brand marketing for AOL, said: "Based on BBDO's special event work for AOL and their terrific creative presentation, we are confident that BBDO is the agency that can excite interest in AOL Broadband as the number one online resource for entertainment and information in a high-speed world."

Bill Katz, president and CEO of the New York office of BBDO, said: "Over the past two months we have become thoroughly addicted to AOL and its people. It is great company, fun to work with and we are absolutely delighted at the prospect of a greatly expanded role."

AOL Time Warner made the wrong kind of corporate history this year when it recorded the biggest annual loss to date -- a figure of $98.7bn, including a one-off charge of $45.5bn over the value of America Online, the cause of many of its problems.

Since then, AOL Time Warner has been looking at the online division closely, planning job and budget cuts.

Troubles at the company have resulted in the ousting of Steve Case, founder of AOL and chairman of AOL Time Warner after the two companies merge. Ted Turner, media mogul and founder of CNN, has also left his role as vice-chairman at the company, amid rumours that he may attempt to buy back his beloved satellite news channel.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .