• by January 17, 2006

In another major win since Nick Brien took the helm of the beleaguered Interpublic media shop, Universal McCann has retained media planning and buying for one of its flagship accounts: Sony Corporation of America. The $600 million-plus account, which includes Sony Corporation of America, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Electronics Inc., Sony of Canada Ltd., Sony Connect Inc., the GSN cable network, the Card Marketing Services Company (also known as My Sony/Sony Card), and the Sony BMG Music Entertainment Inc. joint venture, has been with UM since January 2002.

"We are pleased to have reached this new agreement with Universal McCann in North America as we leverage the many opportunities that the next generation of marketing communication offers," said Andrew House, Sony's chief marketing officer. "Consolidating media planning and buying in North America has proven to be a cost-efficient way to manage our marketing and advertising efforts in this region and has enabled us to achieve more coordinated and consistent messaging." The account is the second major win for UM since Nick Brien joined as president-CEO in August from head of Publicis' Arc unit. In December, UM was named to handle media buying for the U.S. Army's five-year, $1.35 billion account, as part of a full-service win by the McCann WorldGroup.

The wins follow a protracted downturn for UM, which only a couple of years ago was one of Madison Avenue's top media shops, winning "Agency of the Year' accolades from several trade magazines.