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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (138911)	8/11/1999 5:23:00 PM
From: TechMkt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176388

Glad this mess is over. Fez _________________________ Dell Computer Reaches Settlement With Agency in Ad Lawsuit Round Rock, Texas, Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Dell Computer Corp., the biggest direct-seller of personal computers, said it settled litigation with WPP Group Plc's J. Walter Thompson agency over its $70 million ''Be Direct'' advertising campaign. Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed, though Dell spokeswoman Libba Letton said the company made a payment to Thompson to resolve the dispute. In a lawsuit filed in New York, the agency claimed Dell owed it more than $6 million in fees and bonuses. Dell countersued in Texas claiming it was unhappy with the quality of the spots Thompson produced. Thompson, the world's fourth-largest advertising agency, was hired by Dell in June 1998 to develop a worldwide campaign that included commercials on cable-television business shows, network TV and national newspapers and magazines. The ads highlighted Dell's strategy of selling computers directly to customers rather than through a network of retailers and distributors. Only one spot was ever produced under the agreement. It featured a mouse at one end of a maze and a big hunk of cheese at the other end. Rather than navigate the maze, the mouse donned sunglasses and lit a match, bombing the walls of the maze and heading straight for the cheese. Dell executives later said they believed the ad would confuse viewers. Those ads were replaced with a campaign developed last year by Omnicom Group Inc.'s BBDO agency which features users talking about the benefits of Dell's machines. Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, near Austin, previously advertised only in trade publications and focused on product features rather than the company itself. Aug/11/1999 15:03