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The brief to McCanns hinges on using advertising to further distance the consulting business from its auditing arm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, in the wake of the negative publicity caused by the Enron/ Andersen scandal. McCann already handles advertising for the main auditing arm.

Other accountancy firms such as Deloitte & Touche are in talks with branding agencies about how to separate their consulting businesses from their audit arms. KPMG Consulting is also is in talks with branding consultants (Marketing, March 21).

Accenture, formerly known as Andersen Consulting, rebranded in November 2001, thereby escaping the current crisis.

PwC Consulting was created in 1998 following the merger of Price Waterhouse with Coopers & Lybrand.

In February this year, PriceWaterhouseCoopers revealed its intention to float its consultancy arm on the US stock market in the first half of this year.

Industry sources predict marketing spend is likely to jump in this sector as firms seek to gain the high margins on offer in consulting which far outweigh the main audit business.

McCann won the business following a four-way pitch against M&C Saatchi, Lowe and BMP DDB. The pitch was led by Nigel Pike, senior manager for global marketing, PwC Consulting. Pike was unavailable for comment.