Electronics giant Panasonic is reviewing its $20m advertising account currently held by George Patterson Y&R with plans to have it completed by the end of the year.
The decision by Panasonic to review the account comes just a week after Patts was dropped by Foster’s after a 40-year-long relationship.
Patts has managed Panasonic’s above-the-line work for nearly 15 years, interrupted only by a short stint at Leo Burnett.
Gemma Lemieux, manager of marketing communications at Panasonic said the review would be carried out internally/
“We have been with Patts for almost 15 years with two fairly long time frames and we have got a pretty good understanding of their capabilities. This is an opportunity for us to speak to other agencies and asses how we can build our brand further for next year.”
She added: “We have had a very successful year and we want to capitalise on that and build on it for next year. We are assessing how we move forward and how we integrate the brand, part of the brief will be around that area.”
The review is still in its early stages Lemieux said, and it had not been decided how many agencies would be invited to take part in the process.
Panasonic’s media planning and buying duties, which are currently handled by Essence Media, are not affected.
