TBWA secures 4m Sony Centre account

Sony Centre, the branded retail chain, has appointed TBWA/London to handle its 4m advertising business, following a four-way pitch.

Sony Centre, the branded retail chain, has appointed TBWA/London to handle its £4m advertising business, following a four-way pitch.

The agency beat Fallon, the incumbent on Sony’s £70m pan-European advertising business, Krow and Iris to scoop the account. Delaney Lund Knox Warren pulled out at an earlier stage. The pitch was handled by the AAR.

Iris will continue to handle retail promotions and sponsorship for the Sony Centre chain, and is not affected by the appointment of TBWA/London.

The agency now has a brief to create a Christmas campaign to focus on the quality service Sony Centre stores offer compared to high street rivals such as Currys and Dixons.

Media planning and buying for the retail business is handled by OMD UK and is not affected by the decision.

Sony Centre has more than 100 stores run by independent retailers. The retail centres are promoting the newly launched Sony Reader, a digital reading device that claims to hold 160 books. It is available at £199 and in-cludes 100 classic books in electronic form.

Fallon was recently awarded the global advertising campaign for the Sony Bravia flat-screen range of televisions, after the agency was asked to pitch against Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Berlin Cameron United and 180. The agency created the award winning Sony “Balls”, “Paint” and “Play Doh” campaigns.

The brief for Fallon is to create a global campaign that drives sales of the flat-screen televisions.