Interactive agency Left Field has resigned from the online
advertising account of Amazon.com because of disagreements over
money and competitive conflicts of interest.
As Amazon.com has expanded from an online bookstore into a virtual mall,
Left Field said it was precluded from pursuing additional e-commerce
accounts, such as auctioneers and music sellers, Michael MacMahon, the
agency’s managing partner, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Also, Amazon refused to meet Left Field’s compensation demands. “We have
other clients paying us 50 to 60 percent more than Amazon,” said MacMahon.
“We haven’t made money from the Amazon account for two years.”
Left Field also said it resigned drugstore.com, ending a relationship with a
site closely affiliated with Amazon.com.
Amazon spokesman Paul Capelli was quoted as saying that “while we have been
very pleased with (Left Field’s) work, we felt that we had reached a point
where it was mutually beneficial for us to part.” He added that Amazon is
embarking on an interactive agency review.
Other Left Field clients include Infoseek, Sun Microsystems, ImproveNet and
Macys.com.
Amazon spends an estimated $2.5 million annually on Web advertising, the
Chronicle said, but about $130 million on television, radio, print and
outdoor. Foote Cone & Belding of San Francisco has handled Amazon’s
advertising in conventional media for about two years.
A drugstore.com executive, Eric Morris, told AdAge the company will
hand off some interactive work to Duffy Design, a Minneapolis shop affiliated
with the site’s new off-line ad agency, Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis, and a portion of the work will be moved in-house.