Telecommunications marketer BellSouth Corp. named WestWayne Inc.'s breatheinteractive arm as its agency of record for online media buying and planning.
Four agencies with which BellSouth has ongoing relationships pitched in a three-month review. The Atlanta company previously handled online media planning and buying inhouse by BellSouth IntelliVentures. Billings were not disclosed.
“We'll apply our media planning and category knowledge to elevate and extend BellSouth's current online program,” said Heidi Klein, managing partner of breatheinteractive, Atlanta. “Our goal is to improve their online metrics through innovative placements and campaign analysis and optimization.”
BellSouth offers voice telephony and data services to businesses and consumers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and the Carolinas. It has 44 million customers in those states and 14 countries.
Breatheinteractive will handle all online media business across all BellSouth lines. This includes trafficking, campaign maintenance, tracking, research, search engine optimization and weekly reporting as part of the online media planning and buying duties.
The agency currently handles interactive and direct marketing efforts for BAPCO, BellSouth's directory advertising services division. It is a collaboration with parent WestWayne, which has had the account for 18 years.
Breatheinteractive previously worked on BellSouth units like Residential, Small Business and DSL. Its telecom experience includes work for AT&T Paradyne and Mpower Communications.
Breatheinteractive's appointment is indicative of BellSouth's increased use of online marketing.
“The company has incorporated online marketing more heavily in recent years, particularly to promote their data services,” Klein said.
