SEOUL--LG Mobile is understood to have shifted global PR duties to Porter-Novelli, amid plans for an ambitious turnaround of the struggling unit.
The Korean mobile phone brand has selected Porter-Novelli following a review that also included one-year incumbent Burson-Marsteller. The $500k brief focuses largely on strategy and planning for the mobile brand’s worldwide product communications, and does not include in-market implementation.
A Burson-Marsteller source confirmed the development to the Holmes Report. LG Electronics did not respond for request for comment as this story went live.
Another source familiar with the situation said that LG Mobile is "looking for something different to pull them out of this slump."
"They’ve been doing pretty much the same thing the past six or seven years and what might have worked in the old days, isn’t working in the smartphone era."
Porter-Novelli's Korean presence is run through affiliate firm Korcom Porter-Novelli.
LG’s mobile offering has struggled to match the smartphone advances of rivals such as Apple, Samsung and HTC. By the end of 2011 the company had dropped to fifth among all mobile phone manufacturers, with a 3.6 percent market share, and had lost nearly $1bn before recently returning to profit.
The pitch follows parent company LG Electronics’ review of its global corporate and product communications. LG Electronics is expected to retain incumbent LG-One, a partnership of WPP firms Ogilvy PR and Hill & Knowlton, for the lucrative account.
Earlier this year, meanwhile, LG Display shifted its global PR account from Hill & Knowlton to Burson-Marsteller.