McCann Erickson books its return with Lufthansa

McCann Erickson has retained the ââ¬80m (£54m) global advertising account for German national airline Lufthansa after pitching against Leo Burnett and DDB.

McCann’s Berlin agency Mech, which runs the account in Germany, pitched to the Lufthansa marketing team in Frankfurt and has been re-appointed this week to the account, which covers 68 markets. The statutory review was called two months ago and was conducted in two stages. The longlist comprised Mech, Leo Burnett and DDB and was thought to include Young & Rubicam and BBDO Worldwide.

Lufthansa marketing manager for the UK and Ireland Leo Tonidandel says the airline’s “strategic” markets with the highest marketing spend are Germany, the US, Japan, the UK, France and Spain, with important emerging markets in India, China, Poland and South America.

He adds: “Our main target over the next five years is to bring more emotion to our communications, we want to have a different approach to the brand. McCann came up with the best solutions.”

He says this process was boosted last year with the launch of the current slogan: “All this for one moment.”

In the UK, Lufthansa’s advertising is run through McCann Business Communications. Last year, the airline spent £2.5m, mainly promoting its FlyNet service.

In 2000, McCann won the Lufthansa business after pitching against Wieden & Kennedy in Amsterdam. It had been handled by Springer & Jacoby in London and Young & Rubicam in Frankfurt. It is believed that Wunderman, which is aligned to Y&R, has retained the direct marketing business.