Telefonica has Landor’s number

Following an internal review of its marketing operations, Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica is expected to firm up a relationship with Landor Associates as its main branding partner.

Telefonica terminated its relationship with Interpublic Group’s FutureBrand in October 2003. Since then the company has been conducting a wholesale restructure of its branding operations.

According to a source at Telefonica, ‘The telecoms market is constantly changing and as market leader we have to keep on our toes. We have been undergoing an extensive review of our branding operations and are likely to work with Landor in the future.’

Telefonica is soon set to fill the void left after the termination of FutureBrand’s arrangement with the company, and a decision on the appointment of a new branding partner is expected imminently.

A spokesperson for FutureBrand confirmed that it was no longer working with Telefonica. Landor Associates refused to comment.

Telefonica claims to be the leading operator in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets and the sixth biggest telecoms operator in the world in terms of market capitalisation.

As well as fixed-line telephony, Telefonica also owns the Telefonica Moviles and Terra Lycos brands, and the company has a presence in 15 countries.

Telefonica has operations in 40 countries and a customer base of 100 million customers.