Dovetail hangs on to Turkish task

Dovetail Retail and Detail has apparently retained its hold on the 1.4m Turkish Tourist Office account, beating competition from six agencies including Banks Hoggins O’Shea.

The little-known agency said this week it has retained the account for the third year running. Turkish Tourist Office director Mustafa Turkmen says six other agencies pitched for the account, which includes TV, press, radio, cinema and teletext advertising. He adds that the advertising work could extend into pan-European promotion, worth "not less than 10m".

However, as Dovetail celebrated its win, sources said the account may yet move to a rival agency. Turkmen is leaving his UK post for Turkey on June 6 to become the Turkish permanent undersecretary for tourism.

According to industry sources, the account will move to one of the six rival agencies on Turkmen’s departure. Dovetail chief executive Peter White denies the rumour, saying no account repitch will be made before December 1995.

Dovetail has previously beaten off competition for the account from Young & Rubicam, Grey and McCann-Erickson.