Two Brighton new media companies have teamed up to help protect the public face of one of the world's most controversial firms in a deal worth £70,000.

HYPA Solutions and the Electric Pencil Company have put cigarette giant British American Tobacco's (BAT) image guidelines on CD-Rom and the company's intranet.

Paul Wilson-Patterson, managing and creative director of the Electric Pencil Company, admitted some firms refused to work with Electric Pencil because of its links to BAT.

He said: "We're not promoting cigarettes.

"We're promoting the benefits of tobacco to economies."

He said his company could cope with the ethical objections of potential clients.

He said: "The cumulative value of work with BAT is phenomenal."

Mr Wilson-Patterson has worked with BAT to help create its corporate identity for ten years.

The new system provided by the Brighton firms will help the image-conscious cigarette giant gets its presentation right every time, with guides to exactly how its logo and name should look.

Image has been all-important to BAT.

The firm recently defended itself against claims by the World Health Organisation it used dirty tricks to disrupt a major tobacco and health conference in 1992.

Earlier this year, BAT spokesmen denied accusations of being complicit in tobacco smuggling put by a House of Commons committee.

Mr Wilson-Patterson said his electronic guides would make BAT more efficient.

He said: "If things were designed abroad it used to take a long time for them to get back to head office for approval.

"Now it's immediate."

The Brighton firms approached BAT with the idea of getting its guidelines on to the company's intranet.

Simon Watson, business development manager of HYPA, said: "We went to them and they jumped at the idea."

HYPA is no stranger to big-name clients, having produced animations for Virgin Atlantic and Lego.

www.hypasolutions.com