O&M loses £31m Euro Disney to Leo Burnett

Euro Disney, which operates the Disneyland Paris theme park, has moved its $50m (&£31m) pan-European advertising account out of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and into Leo Burnett in Paris.

The move ends a nine-year partnership with O&M Worldwide that dates back to before the park opened in 1992.

Burnett picks up the business after pitching against D’Arcy, DDB Worldwide, Euro RSCG BETEC and the incumbent.

The new agency will be responsible for overhauling the existing advertising and the execution of a launch campaign for a second theme park that will open in 2002.

Disney is spending $640m (&£397.5m) on the new park, which has the working title Disney Studios. It will focus on film and TV production, and be sited next to Disneyland Paris. A massive shopping mall is to be built by the original theme park.

Under the terms of the agreement Walt Disney signed with the French government in 1997, the new theme park was to have been opened by the end of last year. But the losses Disneyland Paris made after opening in 1992 forced those plans to go on hold.

A spokeswoman for Disneyland Paris has confirmed the move. She adds that the agency change is with immediate effect.