BBH resigns £60m Sega for X-box pitch
Sega is looking for a new advertising agency after Bartle Bogle Hegarty has resigned the &£60m -pan-European account in order to pitch for rival Microsoft’s X-box advertising business.
The resignation comes less than a year after the agency was appointed, following a rupture between Sega and WCRS in February.
The agency pitches for the X-Box business this week, alongside Amsterdam-based agency 180 and two other unknown ad agencies. Microsoft has put aside a budget of $500m (&£357m) for the launch, the bulk of which will be spent in Europe.
An insider says the agency was not forced to resign the business, but chose to be “upfront” with Sega.
Sega Europe came under fire earlier this year after the company made false claims about the online gaming capabilities of its Dreamcast console.
At the end of last month, Sega promoted UK marketing director Alison Turner to head of advertising for Europe in an attempt to co-ordinate its European advertising more effectively after rival Sony launched PlayStation 2 last month. Turner now reports directly to European marketing director Jeremy Stern, who started at the end of August.
