Motorola to launch 30m Euro campaign

Motorola is rolling out an estimated 30m pan-European branding campaign.

The largest campaign in the European subsidiary’s history comes four weeks after McCann-Erickson scooped Motorola’s 100m global account (MW August 21). It will be the final work from BDDP Paris, which lost the contest for the global account.

The campaign breaks in France next week and will be rolled out in 24 markets, 21 of which will broadcast the TV commercial.

The main markets will be France, Germany, Sweden and the UK.

It is the first branding work the company has done since 1993. Its most recent campaigns have focused on product promotions, and although the star of the new campaign is its StarTAC mobile model – under the strapline “Always with You” – the objective is a more branded approach.

“In 1994, Motorola had to start fighting for market share against rivals which had competitive offers, and the branding campaign was put on hold,” says Keith Johnson Motorola director of brand marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This is an umbrella branding strategy to work across all markets.”

The ad, featuring a bikini-clad woman walking along a beach, aims to illustrate the “wearability” of the StarTAC.

Johnson dismisses speculation that there is a media pitch for the Motorola business.

But he admits he will talk with both McCann, which was believed to have won the media account last month, and the incumbent Initiative Media later this year.