-By Gregory Solman and Andrew McMains

LOS ANGELES As many as seven agencies are meeting with Mitsubishi Motors North America this week in pursuit of the automaker's creative business, according to sources.
 
Among the shops advancing to the chemistry round are Omnicom Group's DDB and 180 here; and independent agencies Ground Zero, Marina del Rey, Calif.; Ignited, El Segundo, Calif.; MMB in Boston, which maintained a West Coast presence for Atari; Traffic in Los Angeles; and WongDoody, which has offices in Seattle and Culver City, Calif., according to sources. The agencies declined comment, as did Mitsubishi and its search consultancy, Select Resources International.

The Cypress, Calif.-based automaker spent $185 million on measured media in 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
 
The incumbent, Omnicom's BBDO West, San Francisco and Los Angeles, is not defending. The digital work previously done by Omnicom's Organic is also in review.

Sources said that Mitsubishi is likely to cut back on broadcast spending and thus is putting an emphasis on the shops' digital capabilities. Online spending has already grown from less than $2 million in 2004 to more than $10 million in 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

According to sources, the RFI does not specify agency compensation or even the size of the account. Despite several out-of-state or Northern California agencies having been invited to submit credentials, per sources, the questionnaire expressed preference for a local (Southern California) agency.

This story updates an earlier item with the news that MMB and Traffic are among the contenders.