Mid-Atlantic Shops Line Up to Contest Account in Capital

Here come the out of towners.

Maryland's Eisner Communications, The Stern Agency and GVK Communications are contenders in the Washington, D.C., Convention and Tourism Corp. review.

The Baltimore-area trio joins Earle Palmer Brown of Bethesda, Md., and six smaller agencies inthe competition for the estimated $1.8 million annual account, according to Julie Heizer, the convention bureau's director of tourism.

There is no incumbent. In the past, advertising assignments for the high-profile business have been handled on a project basis.

The account will also entail marketing and promoting the capital's new convention center, which is scheduled to open in 2003.