P&G Launches North American Media Review

Procter & Gamble has launched a review of its North American media business, Adweek reports.

P&G is the largest advertiser in the U.S., spending an estimated $2.6 billion annually, according to Kantar Media. The account is currently split between Starcom’s MediaVest, which handles most of the business in the U.S. and Dentsu Aegis’s Carat, which handles media buying in Canada. It is unclear if either agency will participate in the review.

The move follows the decision last summer to divest or shed 90-100 of its brands and the appointment of Kristine Decker as brand director, North America brand operations in January. Late last month, P&G also announced its desire to “make deep cuts in the number of advertising agencies it works with, hoping to save up to half-a-billion dollars in fees.”

Dentsu to Absorb Attik After Scion Loss

Droga5 surprised many in the ad world last month by winning creative duties for two new Toyota Scion models set to launch in the Fall.

At the time, a client spokesperson told us that Scion’s AOR Attik would “[continue] to be a part of our creative team,” that the Dentsu-owned agency would “support various marketing initiatives” in the future, and that Droga5 was simply “a new partner.”

Those statements do not appear to have been completely accurate.

After losing its largest and longest-held account, the agency will fold into the larger Dentsu operation this Summer. Both of Attik’s offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco will be affected, so the agency will effectively cease to exist–as we know it, at least.

The statement from Dentsu Aegis:

“After evaluating the Attik business with an eye towards future growth and sustainability, we have decided to bring Attik into Dentsu Aegis Network. The result will be a reorganization of the business with a long-term view towards client needs and opportunities that will most effectively leverage Attik’s talent, expertise and capabilities on a broader scale. We are actively working to ensure a smooth transition and to redeploy people within Dentsu Aegis Network.”

Not everyone will be redeployed: sources tell us that Toyota cancelled the last few projects scheduled with Attik after signing Droga, that agency principals told employees at an all hands meeting last week that its offices will be closing in July, and that an unspecified number of layoffs followed the loss.

The most recent staffing news regarding Attik concerned the February 2014 departure of Chairman/CEO Ric Peralta, who now lists himself as an “investor, advisor, and consultant” to businesses in the Bay Area.

We have not yet determined whether Attik Los Angeles and San Francisco will close entirely or become Dentsu Aegis locations. The parent company first “hand[ed] sister shop Attik the keys to its LA office” in 2012 before announcing that it had begun the tenth year of its creative partnership with Scion.

We reached out to Dentsu for further clarification on those issues; updates when we get them.

Dentsu Aegis Network Names Rob Horler as U.S. CEO

dentsuDentsu Aegis announced the appointment of Rob Horler, formerly CEO of Dentsu Northern Europe, to the newly-created role of U.S. CEO. Horler will officially assume the role at the beginning of April, relocating from London to New York while continuing to report to Nigel Morris, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Americas & EMEA.

“Over the next three to five years, we absolutely have the goal to double the size of the business in the U.S. We see the U.S. as both strategically important and as a significant source of growth,” Morris told AdAge. “We really need hands-on operational leadership to be able to bring that together.”

Horler originally joined the Dentsu Aegis Network as managing partner of Carat in 2000. He was promoted to a managing director role two years later, and since has been responsible for helping to open digital agency Diffiniti, growing Dentsu’s relationship with Facebook and revitalizing McGarryBowen in the U.K. In his new role, Horler will be responsible for driving exponential growth, and will continue to hold global executive responsibilities for Dentsu’s iProspect and Data2Decisions properties.

 

 

Microsoft Goes with IPG, Dentsu Aegis

Microsoft-Logo-square

Microsoft’s nearly four-month long agency review process is over.

Today brings news that the company chose IPG for ads and Dentsu Aegis for media. The release reads:

“At Interpublic Group, creative, localization and deployment will be handled by various agency teams throughout IPG’s global network.”

…which means a lot of work for a lot of people since Microsoft’s annual media spend totals more than $1 billion.

Last month the company’s RFP told the agencies involved in the review that they should be “open to change”, and VP/CMO Chris Capossela writes that both new parties fit that bill:

“We believe both groups will help us communicate more strategically and efficiently in a rapidly evolving marketplace.”

The company reportedly stuck with former Bill Clinton flack Mark Penn to handle the big decision. We can only hope its “Scroogled” campaign doesn’t have quite as many lives.

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