BBDO, British Ally Chase Shell

ATLANTA-Shell Chemical Co. in Houston has relaunched the review of its advertising account and will hear presentations this week in London from four U.S. agencies, including BBDO South in Atlanta. All four agencies have teamed with London-area shops to pursue the business.
Ann Iverson, owner of Houston marketing consultancy Creating Selling Opportunities, is assisting Shell with the search. She said shops pitching the account are: BBDO South, in conjunction with Clarke Hooper Consulting, a business-to-business affiliate of Abbott Mead Vickers/BBDO; The Focus Agency, Dallas, teamed with Maher Bird; Bates Southwest, Houston, with Bates Dorland; and Ketchum Advertising, Pittsburgh, with TBWA Payne Stracey.
Iverson would not say whether incumbent Black Rogers Sullivan Goodnight in Houston was still in contention. BRSG picked up the account through an acquisition of Houston business-to-business agency MDR in 1990.
The account was estimated at $5-7 million when it was placed in review last year. The review was postponed last September, with Shell executives citing a “globalization effort and the possible consolidation of work in various locations” as a contributing factor. At that time, Shell representative Eydie Pengelly told Adweek, “We want to accurately portray the scope of the account to all agencies involved in the process, and we don’t have a [clear] picture at this point.”
Iverson would not say whether the expanded nature of the account would lead to larger billings. She also did not divulge a target date for a decision, but said Shell would award the account “as soon as possible” after presentations conclude this week.
Before the review was halted last fall, shops contacted by the client were Houston’s Fogarty Klein & Partners and Ogilvy & Mather-agency for Shell Oil Co.-and Howard Merrell & Partners in Raleigh, N.C.
Shell Chemical, a division of Shell Chemicals in London, makes a variety of products used in consumer goods. It is a supplier of Kraton, a substance used in Ray-Ban sunglasses, and Neodol, an ingredient in products like Tide laundry detergent.