Omnicom agency loses $100m SBC telecoms account

NEW YORK - Omnicom-owned agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners has been sacked from the $100m (拢60.8m) advertising account for US telecoms giant SBC Communications, according to reports.

Goodby's relationship with the company dates back to 1994 when it picked up the advertising for telecoms firm Pacific Bell, which was acquired by SBC in 1998.

No information about why the agency has been dropped was available at the time of writing. However, Omnicom looked to have tightened its grip on the account with the news that SBC handed its New York-based agency Merkley Newman Harty & Partners the task of introducing the SBC brand to California and Nevada in May.

These two areas had previously been served by the Pacific Bell name, which SBC announced plans to drop at the beginning of this year.

Goodby has produced a string of award-winning campaigns for SBC including one promoting Pacific Bell's DSL internet service featuring a fictitious place called Laurel Lane. The community turned nasty when internet access slowed down and cut each others cable lines to try to make their own access faster.

The agency's most recent work was the launch campaign of SBC's long-distance service in California.

SBC spent $52m in the US between January and November 2002 according to Taylor Nelson Sofres CMR.

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