Intel Adds a Second Ad Agency

Intel Corp. unexpectedly added a second shop to its agency roster to handle North American advertising, with billings estimated at more than $100 million.

The happy agency is Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer Euro RSCG in New York, known for creative campaigns for marketers like MCI Communications Corp.

Messner Vetere will share the Intel North American assignment with Euro RSCG DSW Partners in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, which has worked for Intel since 1990, according to the New York Times.

It was Euro RSCG DSW that teamed up with Intel, the world’s largest producer of microprocessors, to introduce the “Intel inside” campaign, which revolutionized high-technology marketing by transforming the computer chip from a commodity to a branded product.

The agencies are siblings, both part of the Euro RSCG network owned by Havas Advertising SA in Paris. Intel consolidated its worldwide account at Euro RSCG in March 1996, at which time Havas acquired a majority stake in Euro RSCG DSW, then known as Dahlin Smith White.

“The workload in North America has increased to the point where we feel the need to bring in a second agency in order to supplement the work being done by DSW,” Ann Lewnes, worldwide advertising director at Intel in Santa Clara, CA, was quoted as saying.

Since 1990, media spending has increased twentyfold, she added, “and the amount of work year to year has doubled because when we started, we were producing just print ads and now we’re producing print, TV, radio and interactive.”

Intel did not consider agencies outside the Euro RSCG network, Lewnes said, nor was the change motivated by any dissatisfaction with Euro RSCG DSW’s work.

Intel is deciding how to divide duties between the two agencies, she added, though “we’d like to play to Messner’s strength in consumer advertising, so the first assignments will be shared on certain campaigns in the area of TV advertising.”