NEW YORK Sony Ericsson has tapped Interpublic Group's McCann Erickson in London to handle its $160 million global advertising and communications business without a review, the agency said today.

Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi had handled the account for slightly more than a year. McCann, however, was no stranger to the brand, having worked with Sony Ericsson in 2006 to help launch the client's Walkman phones.

"Moving forward, we are looking at increased integration across all of our marketing disciplines including online, print, TV and retail as well as greater consumer engagement," said Dee Dutta, corporate vp, head of global marketing at Sony Ericsson, in a statement. "McCann has a deep understanding of how this works and can help us to grow the brand globally even further."

Brett Gosper, president of McCann's operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, referring to the pitch in which McCann was a runnerup to Saatchi for the global business, said: "Some agencies would take the loss a year ago on the chin and move on. But the result was so close, the London team made it their personal goal to make Sony Ericsson theirs."

Managing partner Julian Ingram will lead the account at McCann.

Existing media, digital and experiential assignments are not affected by the shift, though the client could work with other resources under the McCann Worldgroup umbrella to accelerate the delivery of integrated work, the agency said.