W&K in line to pick up global Aiwa brief after four-way pitch.(Wieden and Kennedy London)(Brief Article)

Sony is poised to appoint Wieden & Kennedy London to the multimillion-pound global creative advertising account for the electronics goods brand Aiwa following a four-way pitch that involved TBWA/London, Fallon and the Amsterdam-based agency StrawberryFrog.

Fallon is already part of the Sony roster, having won the main pounds 70 million pan-European consumer electronics account last year.

Aiwa has also appointed OMD Europe to handle media planning and buying across the continent, although no decision has yet been made for other regions.

The agency's UK division picked up Sony Europe's pounds 320 million pan-European planning and buying account last year.

W&K will be tasked with revitalising the brand, which was acquired by Sony last year as it struggled to compete with cost-cutting Asian rivals such as Sanyo, Hitachi and Toshiba, to focus on the youth market. Moving the bulk of its manufacturing base out of Japan, to cut costs and improve financial performance, had failed to turn the Aiwa business around.

...