KODAK REALIGNS WORLDWIDE BUSINESS
By Adnews Staff
U.S.-based Eastman Kodak has made an international agency realignment, dropping Young & Rubicam from its worldwide advertising account. It was announced yesterday that the photo company has divided up global advertising between J. Walter Thompson, a Kodak agency of 65 years, and Ogilvy & Mather, which started nabbing Kodak assignments in 1994. All three agencies are based in New York. Y&R is losing an estimated $35 million(US) in billings in Canada and much of Europe, according to an Advertising Age report. The changes do not affect Kodak assignments at Y&R divisions such as Burson-Marsteller (public relations), Wunderman Cato Johnson (direct marketing) and Landor Associates (corporate identity). Kodak and ad agency officials were not available to say how Y&R's global Kodak assignments had been divided up between JWT and O&M, nor what specific brand assignment chages would be made in Canada. However, it was announced that JWT, a Kodak agency for 65 years, will keep film, cameras and the new Advantix product line, while O&M takes will take over the single-use camera account from JWT. O&M also picks up photofinishing and retail services. Last fall O&M won Kodak's global corporate branding account, billing an estimated $35 million(US) to $50 million. This win came several months after O&M picked up Kodak's global digital imaging business, with estimated billings of $15 million(US). In Canada, Kodak has been using several agencies, including JWT, O&M, Mainstay Communications and The Gingko Group, all in Toronto.