First of 3 Media Summits at Sony

Presentations begin this week for Sony Corp.’s consolidated $400 million-plus North American media business, sources said. Reviews of Sony’s European and Asian media accounts are ex-pected to follow.

Over the past seven months, Sony corporate and divisional officials have explored the ramifications of consolidation with top executives of the world’s largest media networks. The list includes Bcom3’s Starcom Mediavest Group, WPP’s MindShare/The Media Edge, Publicis’ Zenith Media, IPG’s Universal McCann and Omnicom’s OMD. All of the agencies or their sister shops handle a piece of Sony business here and abroad.

Sony had indicated to agencies that presentations would begin in September, but until the formal invitations were made last week, the company had not asked shops for competitive information.