Lycos Names Hill, Holliday
Lycos Network has finally named Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Boston, to handle its $25 million to $30 million account that the online portal put up for review this spring.The decision ended a controversial review that involved a pullout by Deutsch, the other contender in the final round for the Lycos business. Bozell, New York, was the incumbent on the account.
"We're positioning ourselves through our clients to be an agency that not only moves with digital speed, but also with the digital age," said Eric Fehrnstrom, senior vice president of communications at Hill, Holliday's Boston office.
Deutsch withdrew in May after the agency reportedly found that its presentation was made available to Hill, Holliday. Jack Connors, a founder of Hill, Holliday, also sits on the Lycos board of directors.
"What it comes down to is two agencies fighting for a piece of business," Hill, Holliday's Fehrnstrom said.
Based in Waltham, MA, Lycos is one of the leading portals in the United States, along with Yahoo, Excite, Go.com and AltaVista. Terra Networks, owned by Spanish telecom marketer Telefonica de Espana, recently agreed to buy Lycos in a $12.6 billion all-stock deal.
Terra is a Latin American provider of Internet access to Spanish and Portuguese speakers.
The Lycos win adds to Hill, Holliday's roster of Internet clients, which includes Micronpc.com, webmiles.com, Move.com, mortgageit.com and Priceline.com.
A new campaign from Hill, Holliday is expected to build the combined Terra Lycos brand once the acquisition is completed.
"You'll begin to see our first campaign for them in the fall," Fehrnstrom said.
