Verizon Communications, New York, has named Lowe Lintas & Partners and Draft Worldwide, New York, as its primary advertising agencies. The move is an effort to gain ad spending efficiencies by consolidating its agency business.
Lowe Lintas & Partners and Draft Worldwide will handle the advertising for Verizon’s brand, consumer and business products, broadband and long-distance services. Draft Worldwide has handled direct marketing and direct response advertising for Verizon for about six years.
“We’ll be working closer with Lowe in trying to integrate the brand work with the direct marketing in a more meaningful way,” CEO Howard Draft said last night. “[The consolidation] will make it much easier for us to coordinate client’s business.”
Draft said direct marketing billings total “well over” $100 million of the $400 to $500 million creative advertising account.
Draft Worldwide was originally hired by Bell Atlantic and then kept the business after mergers with Nynex Communications and then GTE, he said.
Verizon’s advertising had been handled by Havas Advertising’s unit Arnold Communications, The Lord Group, a joint venture between WPP Group’s Young & Rubicam and Denstu Inc. of Japan and True North Communication’s Temerlin McClain.
Earlier, Verizon had consolidated its media buying account with Draft, Zenith Media and French advertising firm Publicis Groupe SA.
Lowe Lintas & Partners and Draft Worldwide are both units of mega advertising group Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc. The move was a coup for Lowe Lintas which has recently lost several prominent accounts including Burger King last year, according to news reports.
