Auto-by-Tel, iMall Find New Ad Agencies

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.