New PHD picks up Dell media in global switch

New PHD is understood to have won the UK media account for Dell Computer in the wake of the brand’s global switch from J Walter Thompson to Omnicom’s BBDO network.

Dell’s media account is to be handled worldwide by Optimum Media Direction – the Omnicom umbrella media brand.

Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO secured the UK creative account when JWT, part of the WPP Group, was fired from the 60m global account in September (MW September 17).

MindShare had been handling the media worldwide as part of the same group.

The changes have come only ten months after Dell appointed JWT in the US, following a three-way pitch, to develop the computer company’s first global branding campaign.

The agency launched the campaign “Be Direct” in the US four months ago and was on the verge of rolling it out worldwide.

The agency changes are thought to stem from the appointment of Dell vice-president of corporate branding Scott Helbing, who joined the company at the end of 1997.

He used to work at the Tricon-owned Pizza Hut, which uses the BBDO network globally.

The computer manufacturer, which sells its products direct to customers, spent 5.1m on advertising in the UK for the year ending June 1998, according to ACNielsen-MEAL.