Whirlpool Taps Copper for Cielo

Whirlpool hired Copper to handle its new Cielo bath products division following a review. Billings are estimated at $5 million.

Publicis in Mid America, Chicago, remains the lead agency on Whirl-pool’s account, al-though direct mail is handled by Campbell-Ewald Advertising in Warren, Mich. Neither of those agencies participated in the review for Cielo. The review included mainly smaller agencies, said Steve Kunkel, managing partner and client services director at Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Copper. Hoffman York in Milwaukee was also a finalist for the business.

The Cielo line was introduced earlier this year with collateral and point-of-purchase materials developed by Fairly Painless in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Copper’s first work is expected to break late in the year or in first quarter 2002 and will include TV and print.