W/USA Lands First Int'l Account With Jim Beam Brands By Beth Heitzma

CHICAGO - W/USA Ltd. Advertising/Chicago last week landed its first piece of U.S.-based business, nabbing the assignment from Jim Beam Brands Co

W/USA, an offshoot of Sao Paulo, Brazil-based W/Brasil, triumphed over another undisclosed agency for the business, for which billings have not yet been determined. W/USA will create a print campaign for Kamora and will place the media in Europe and Latin America.
W/USA opened the Chicago office last year, initially handling work for Brazilian accounts doing business in the United States. Other offices in the W/USA network are located in Spain and Portugal. Parent W/Brasil is headed by flamboyant Brazilian adman Washington Olivetto.
Fallon McElligott, which continues to handle the brand in the United States, did not compete for the international assignment, according to W/USA president Laurence Klinger, previously a vp-creative director at Leo Burnett in Brazil and the U.S.
Kamora, a price brand, saw a sharp rise in sales last year according to figures compiled by Impact. Jim Beam sold 195,000 cases of Kamora in 1992, up from 165,000 in 1991.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)