Online vehicle sales operation Auto-by-Tel named the Grey Interactive unit of Grey
Advertising to handle its integrated advertising and marketing
communications account, with billings estimated at $20 million.
And Internet retailer iMall named Friedland Jacobs Communications
in Burbank, CA, to handle its account.
Auto-By-Tel’s ad chores had been divided among an in-house team; RBI
Communications in Hollywood, which created commercials for Auto-by-Tel that
ran during the last two Super Bowls, and TBS Media Management in New York,
which resigned the media portion of the account two months ago, according
to The New York Times.
Anne Benvenuto, senior vice president for marketing at Auto-by-Tel in
Irvine, CA, was quoted as saying that a three-month review of the account
began with 12 agencies and had been narrowed to Grey Interactive and two
finalists she declined to identify.
Online media planning and buying will be handled by Grey Interactive’s
sibling, Media.com in New York. Traditional media services will be handled by
Grey Entertainment in Burbank, CA. RBI will continue handling public
relations for Auto-by-Tel.
iMall, the online shopping network in Studio City, CA, named Friedland Jacobs
to handle its account, which had been handled in-house since 1995. Billings
were estimated at $7 million to $10 million. The decision came after a month-
long review in which the other participants were not named, according to the
Times.