LONDON — Telefónica has retained Bite to lead global PR duties, following a competitive review that featured three other agencies.

The business, which Bite initially won in 2012, involves raising awareness of Telefónica's work on open data and innovation in technology, network and digital services. Bite reports into Telefónica’s London-based team, which ultimately reports to the company's global HQ in Madrid.

"It’s prudent to look at the market and see what’s out there after five years, but Bite put its best foot forward with a strong, specialist team, deep content expertise and unrivalled global lead agency skills," said Natalie Homer, UK lead for global external communications at Telefónica. "It’s an agency that continues to evolve and bring new ideas."

Telefónica continues to work with Blue Rubicon and Hope & Glory in the UK, where it operates the O2 brand. However, the company continues to mull options for offloading O2, after a sale to Three was blocked by the European Commission.

After a series of acquisitions over the past decade, Telefónica's growth strategy appears to be focused on such core markets as Spain, Germany and Latin America.

"Telefónica represents everything we admire in a brand – it’s disruptive, globally-minded, and genuinely has an interesting point of view," said Kath Easthope, Bite’s MD.
 
"All you ask for in clients is to work together collaboratively and take calculated risks on ideas and campaigns that will help the brand stand out from the crowd. Telefónica embraces new thinking and the activity has been non-stop in the past year."