Barnes & Noble Creative Account Under Review

Barnes & Noble Inc. reportedly said it is searching for an agency to handle the creative part of its account.

The account has been handled for less than a year by Weiss, Whitten, Stagliano in New York, which recently launched a new campaign for barnesandnoble.com, the online bookstore. Billings were estimated at $35 million, according to The New York Times.

“Our needs have changed,” Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble in New York, was quoted as saying in confirming reports of a review this week in Advertising Age and Adweek.

The company has invited eight agencies in New York to compete for the creative account, Keating said, though she declined to identify them. Among the possible contenders listed by Adweek were Deutsch Inc. and Margeotes/Fertitta & Partners. The review will be narrowed in mid-July to two to three finalists, she said, with a decision by mid-August.

Adam Stagliano, president at Weiss, Whitten, said: “Obviously, we’re disappointed. It was a challenging account, but they seemed pleased with the work.”

center>