Five agencies line up for Oracle Euro drive

Oracle, the US computer services company, has drawn up a shortlist of five agencies to pitch for its pan-European corporate business, understood to be worth about 5m.

The company is in discussions with Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, Delaney Fletcher Bozell, McCann-Erickson and one other agency for the work. It is thought the campaign will include television advertising for the first time.

Advertising manager Alison Bournat says: “We will draw up a pitch list – probably of three – from this and will expect to see the agencies before the end of the month.”

The campaign will also include press and posters. Oracle has not run a European corporate drive recently.

The US-based manufacturer has high brand awareness in both Europe and the States, partly thanks to the way its chief executive, Larry Ellison, has publicly traded a war of words with Microsoft head Bill Gates over the future of the PC.

This year Oracle will concentrate its marketing behind the network computer, which is a PC without storage space, as a product for both the home and the corporate world.