Sony Pictures' $250 Mil. Review Is Familiar Tale

It’s a familiar plot: A new marketing boss arrives, proclaims no dissatisfaction with the incumbent, but launches a review anyway to explore options.

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Jeff Blake is staying true to that scenario, hearing presentations this week from undisclosed media agencies and full-service shops to handle the movie studio’s $250 million-plus media buying account. McCann-Erickson’s media-agency sister, Universal Mc-Cann, handles the account, which has had a starring role on McCann’s West Coast client roster since 1987.

Blake, Sony Pictures’ longtime distribution chief, was given responsibility for marketing in a top exec reorganization at the end of 2000, which led to the departure of Bob Levin, Sony Pictures’ president of worldwide marketing, soon after.

“We’re satisfied with the job McCann is doing for us,” said Blake, “but anytime you make a change in a marketing de-partment, you want to see what’s out there, espe-cially someone like myself who has no preconceived notions [about...