Lowe Lintas lands £60m 3Com global business

Lowe Lintas & Partners has won the estimated &£60m global advertising account for computing group 3Com, after beating incumbent FCB Worldwide.

The win, by Lowe Lintas’ New York office, follows 3Com’s decision to spin off its hand-held computing arm, Palm, which it acquired in 1997 through its takeover of US technology company Robotics.

The spin-off, which is due to be completed by September 1, is part of 3Com’s plans to move away from selling computer hardware and focus its business on providing Internet solutions to businesses.

It is thought the first advertising campaign by Lowe Lintas will highlight the new strategy.

A source says: “This is a new direction for 3Com and advertising must reflect that.”

3Com’s plans follow a flurry of computer manufacturers turning to Internet solutions as their main source of business. Compaq, the world’s biggest PC manufacturer, and Hewlett Packard, also a dominant worldwide PC player, have both announced new e-business strategies in the past six months.

FCB Worldwide, San Francisco – which pitched alongside the New York offices of Lowe Lintas, Y&R and Ogilvy & Mather – holds on to the Palm account, which was worth &£500,000 in the UK last year.

Sources say Lowe Direct, Lowe’s below-the-line arm, will handle the bulk of the 3Com work in the UK.