BOSTON-Eight agencies have moved forward in the review for the creative portion of Bay Networks' $10-12 million advertising account.
Advancing last week following preliminary discussions with the client were Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos and Partners & Simons, both in Boston; Long Hayms Carr in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Hanft Byrne Raboy Abrams & Partners, Mezzina/Brown and Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, all in New York; and Amazon Advertising and Foote, Cone & Belding, both in San Francisco, according to Mike Marsak of Effective Marketing Strategies, the Marina del Rey, Calif., consulting company overseeing the review.
Several agencies named to Bay Network's initial list of contenders [Adweek, Aug. 11] either withdrew from the process or were informed by the client that they were not right for the account, agency officials said.
Several last-minute additions were made to the original list after some shops pulled out, sources said. Among the agencies now out of contention are: Ingalls Advertising in Boston; Anderson & Lembke in San Francisco; Mendelsohn/Zien in Los Angeles; Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich.; The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va.; and Hampel/Stefanides in New York.
Another round of cuts pruning the eight contenders to a shorter list of finalists will take place in early September before the announcement of a final decision, which is expected by Oct. 1, Marsak said.
Jeff Brooks, vice president of brand management at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based networking company, has said he is seeking a shop that can provide strong brand advertising [Adweek, Aug. 11]. Brooks did not return calls by press time last week.
Bay Networks parted ways with creative incumbent Euro RSCG Dahlin Smith White in Salt Lake City this spring.
Media duties, handled by Freeman Associates in Wellesley, Mass., are being reviewed separately. In the hunt for that portion of the business along with the incumbent are DeWitt Media in New York, ICG in Chicago and Western International Media's Boston office.
Although the creative and media assignments are being reviewed separately, Bay Networks has reserved the option to assign the entire account to a single shop, Brooks has said.