GTE Re-Dials: Account Management to Shift From DDB Los Angeles to Dallas By Kathy Thacker and John O'Connor with Kathy Tyre

For some time now DDB Needham N.Y. president Andy Berlin has been flying to Dallas to hea

Top-level Omnicom sources confirmed that under directions from DDB Needham chairman Keith Reinhard, Berlin has been riding shotgun on the GTE account since July, knitting together the efforts of DDB Needham account and creative teams in N.Y., L.A. and Honolulu and the efforts of Tracy-Locke/DDB Needham as well as the work of other smaller Omnicom units.
As one top Omnicom exec put it, ‘It’s an effort to integrate the resources of two multi-point agencies for a multi-divisional client.’
A permanent GTE marketing services unit of 30 to 35 people will be based in the T-L/DDB Dallas office, headed by an as-yet-unnamed top executive drawn from the ranks of Omnicom.
Also involved in the task force are T-L/DDB, Hispanic affiliate Ornelas & Associates and Tracy-Locke Direct.
T-L/DDB chief Mike Rawlings last week stressed that many details still were left to be worked out.
But an Omnicom source said the unit is a ‘paradigm’ Reinhard had envisioned for GTE for some time. At a board meeting last July, Reinhard asked Berlin to take charge of a task force ‘to develop the fully integrated and dedicated operation above and below the line,’ one source said.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)