Lufthansa invites tenders for pooled £20m global business

German airline Lufthansa is consolidating its £20m global account into one agency.

Incumbents Springer & Jacoby International in London, and Young & Rubicam (Y&R), Frankfurt, are both pitching for the account, alongside unnamed international agencies.

Springer & Jacoby is Lufthansa’s lead agency and Y&R adapts its advertising for markets across the world.

The pitch has been called because Lufthansa is focusing its advertising almost exclusively on seven key markets and needs one agency instead of two.

The key markets include the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman says the exact details of the new account have yet to be finalised, but the incumbent agencies, if unsuccessful, will continue to work with the company on smaller projects.

She declines to give a figure for the value of the account.

The review will not include Lufthansa’s media or direct marketing accounts, held by Y&R’s media arm The Media Edge and Scholz & Friends Hamburg respectively.

Springer & Jacoby created a series of ads using Sophia Loren and football star Pele last year to promote Lufthansa’s revamped First Class service. These used the strapline: “Just be yourself again”.

Lufthansa is a founding member of the Star Alliance, which also includes United Airlines, SAS, British Midland and Singapore Airlines.

It recently bought a 20 per cent stake in British Midland from SAS.