• by Tom Siebert , October 19, 2006

Philips Electronics has placed its reported $600 million global media account in review, and incumbent Carat will defend.

The Netherlands-based company has gotten a great deal of buzz from its "Sense and Simplicity" media campaign--but that hasn't translated to global success, according to reports in the trade press.

One high-profile media strategy from Carat has been to buy an entire television program's ad time, but use only a portion of it, so viewers get more programming. It has done similar efforts in movie theaters--allowing patrons to get to the feature more quickly, without pre-film commercials, although with less success.

"The pace of change we have seen within the global media environment requires us to continuously challenge the way we deliver our brand promise of "Sense and Simplicity" to our customers through the media they consume," Geert van Kuyck, senior vice president of global marketing at Philips, said in a statement. "While we have made important steps forward in this area over the past year, we also believe that fundamental to this challenge is the way clients and agencies collaborate effectively in this new environment."

Two or three other media firms will be invited to pitch the account. A decision is expected by April 2007.