TBWA picks up Bloomingdale’s account By Alison Fahe

NEW YORK–TBWA Advertising here has won the Bloomingdale’s account and the agency will likely play a key role in repositioning the 121-year-old department store

TBWA, which beat out agencies FCB/Leber Katz Partners/N.Y. and Kirshenbaum & Bond/N.Y., will pick up TV advertising, which had most recently been handled inhouse after Bloomingdale’s late last year ended its 10-year relationship with Grey Advertising.
However, this time around Bloomingdale’s is expected to use more of its agency’s resources than it has tended to in the past and the account could grow to be worth between $5 million and $10 million.
Sources said Bloomingdale’s had asked the pitching agencies to develop a strategy that would reposition the venerable retailer for the ’90s and could be used in everything from TV ads to in-store displays and even merchandising.
TBWA executives declined comment and Bloomingdale’s executives were not available at presstime.
The search was overseen by Morris Perlis, a former top-level American Express exec who’s now a marketing consultant to Bloomingdale’s.
“They wanted a new position that could be used through all levels of communications,” said one source.
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