Sony Corporation of America Consolidates Media Buying And Planning for U.S. and Canadian Operating Companies
PRNewswire
01/30/2002
Universal McCann Named as Media Agency of Record
For Account Valued at More Than $600 Million
NEW YORK, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Corporation of America (SCA) has named Universal McCann as its media planning and buying Agency of Record (AOR), it was announced today by Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO, SCA. The media AOR assignment consolidates SCA's North American advertising media planning and buying account for the Sony Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment (network television), and Sony of Canada Ltd. operating divisions.
"We are consolidating our media buying and planning activities to expedite the development of more innovative and cost-efficient ways to market and advertise in North America," said Mr. Stringer. "The concentrated leverage of all of our companies will help to drive down costs. And with one agency handling all the media buying and planning, our operating companies will benefit from better coordinated messaging. The North American consolidation is part of Sony's overall global efforts to consolidate media buying in each region."
Ira Carlin, Chairman and CEO of Universal McCann Worldwide, said: "We're delighted to be able to expand the scope of our work with Sony as they focus on media communications with the same concentrated level of strategic vision that has made them famous. As part of the evaluation process, we were asked to demonstrate our own strategic research, planning and buying capabilities, particularly in helping them evaluate Generation Y as a media market. This is a clear indication of how forward-thinking Sony is in its planning, given the rapidly increasing demographic importance of this 70-million strong market of young people."
The media AOR account at Universal McCann will encompass SCA's more than $600 million in U.S. and Canadian advertising expenditures in television, interactive, radio, newspaper, magazine and outdoor media. Universal McCann is the media arm of McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, one of the world's largest advertising and marketing communications organizations and a member of The Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG). In Canada, the media arm is branded as M2 Universal.
The SCA assignment will be handled by Universal McCann's offices in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Montreal. Universal McCann and its sister company McCann-Erickson Los Angeles ad agency have handled the Sony Pictures Entertainment media account for the last 14 years.
Sony Corporation of America, based in New York City, is the U.S. subsidiary of Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. Sony is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its music, motion picture, television, computer entertainment, and online businesses make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal U.S. businesses include Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment Inc., and Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of over $58.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, and it employs 181,800 people worldwide. Sony Corporation of America recorded over $17.4 billion in sales in the U.S. for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001. Sony Corporation of America's homepage is: http://www.sony.com/SCA/index.html.
SOURCE: Sony Corporation of America
Contact: Howard Polskin of Sony Corporation of America, +1-212-833-6975,
howard_polskin@sonyusa.com; or Stewart Alter of Universal McCann,
+1-646-865-3936, stewart.alter@mccann.com
Website: http://www.sony.com/SCA/index.html