It has handed M&C Saatchi the brief to create an image-building campaign that will take the fight to global rival Bloomberg.
The appointment comes as Reuters prepares for its annual general meeting today (Thursday), at which chief executive Tom Glocer is expected to face fierce questioning about his recovery strategy.
The ads, which will appear in press read by opinion-formers in major international markets, will break in the summer and run into next year.
M&C Saatchi has worked for Reuters in the past on its brand strategy, but has not created ads for the company.
Reuters wants to use the investment in marketing to demonstrate the brand's association with values such as journalistic impartiality, accuracy and integrity.
The company believes its reputation has been enhanced by blanket coverage of the war in Iraq, where Reuters had 80 journalists reporting from the front line.
"We feel that situations such as the war are where our strengths as a brand and as a trusted information provider come to the fore," said a Reuters spokesman.
Reuters has been hit by falling income and is expected to announce in a trading update that revenues from its core business in the first quarter of 2003 were £700m, 9% down on the same period last year.
The news will be acutely embarrassing to Reuters, which is also embroiled in a row over executive pay. It emerged last month that Glocer received a £612,000 bonus in 2002, despite the company's difficulties.
Reuters is also seeking a chairman to succeed Sir Christopher Hogg, who is to leave the role after 18 years.
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