VENABLES TO GET $20 MILLION SIEBEL AD ACCOUNT

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- Applications software firm Siebel Systems will award its estimated $20 million advertising account to independent shop Venables,

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Bell & Partners, San Francisco, executives familiar with the situation said.

San Francisco shops
The marketer of customer service software selected Venables, Bell after a review that included San Francisco agencies DDB Worldwide, part of Omnicom Group; Godfrey Q & Partners; Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners West; and Gardner, Geary, Coll.

A spokesman for Venables, Bell declined to comment.

Andrew Salzman, vice president of advertising and branding at Siebel, denied the review was complete and said he would have a definitive answer on agency selection by Wednesday, pending a "final internal review of players."

Incumbent not included
The agency that previously handled the Siebel account, Publicis Groupe's Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, did not participate in the review.

Siebel, a business software provider, operates in a highly competitive field. Rival Oracle is trying to purchase PeopleSoft, which also sells customer service software similar to Siebel products. Earlier this year, Siebel announced it was cutting 10% of its staff. In 2002, the company spent $12.5 million in measures media, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR.

Third major win
This the third significant recent win for Venables, Bell, which spun off from Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, in May 2001. In June, the shop won Roxio's Napster account, also valued at $20 million. In August, it won the account for cable channel Animal Planet. Current clients also include Robert Mondavi Winery, HBO Home Video, Target Corp.'s Mervyn's and Barclays Global Investors' iShares brand.