Internet book retailer Amazon.com is threatening to leave
advertising agency Foote, Cone and Belding, a unit of True North
Communications, if it does not improve its performance on the account,
according to published reports.
Tom Robbins, spokesman for FCB in San Francisco, told Reuters the agency received a letter from
the Seattle-based Internet company giving them 30 days’ notice, but he
declined to give further details.
Amazon.com, which spends about $40 million a year on advertising, did not
return phone calls.
Earlier this week, the company launched its first TV campaign in a year about
a fictitious search for a location to house its bookstore. The new ads are
based on a radio and print campaign that Amazon.com ran previously.
Reuters said FCB, which recently laid off 35 employees, has been experiencing
difficulties since it lost clothing company Levi Strauss’s $90 million jeans
account a year ago.