AMV.BBDO holds onto Timberland business

AMV BBDO is expected to retain its account with Timberland UK despite a decision this week from its New York division to drop a 13m account with the fashion retailer.

BBDO New York announced unexpectedly last week that it was resigning the work because Timberland’s “priorities had changed”.

BBDO won the US account in June after Timberland ended its seven-year relationship with Mullen Advertising in Massachusetts.

Timberland in the US says the decision was made to switch agencies because the brand had grown and was facing “competition and challenges on a global level”.

It is understood that Timberland, in an eleventh hour decision pulled out of a 1996 worldwide campaign.

The company says it “changed marketing strategy in the short term”.

However, Timberland UK marketing manager Lesley Henry says the company would continue its relationship with AMV here despite changes in the US.

Timberland holds a through-the-line account with AMV. Henry says the relationship between Timberland and AMV was good following a recent successful direct-response campaign.