International Marketer’s Blog

Lowe worldwide chief creative officer Matthew Bull has pulled together a group of global creative directors centrally based at Lowe’s New York office in a bid to ratchet up creative excellence.

The group is made up of four creative directors who will work on new business pitches and briefs from existing clients. In addition to Bull, the team includes a digital specialist, an art director and two writers.

The digital specialist is Tom Markham, brought in from Lowe Sydney who has worked on Vodafone and MTV. The art director is Raj Kamble, who previously handled Unilever’s Degree and Aruba at Lowe’s New York office and Patrick McClelland, who also has worked on Unilever business.

The fourth member of the ‘flying squad’ – as the group is known internally is yet to be recruited.”All these guys show flexibility. They all have strong ideas that can be produced” across all media channels, Bull said, talking to Ad Age.

The move reflects Bull’s desire to “get my hands dirty” in his international role, which he reassumed in the spring of 2009 after three years as chairman of Lowe Bull, his namesake South African agency. “I want to lead by example, to do and not just talk,” he said. (more…)

If there’s one thing in the mind of the international marketer at the moment it’s efficiency. As I make my way around marketing strategy meetings via the airports of Europe, it’s always the issues of reducing wastage and streamlining processes that are top of the agenda.

Management of the creative development process is a key area of discussion. Developing creative centrally that can be rolled out across many country markets is no easy task. Even before you get to the part where you’re translating and implementing multiple executions, the first hurdle is often ensuring that the in-country marketing departments across the globe buy in to the central creative strategy and direction.

More often than not, country offices fight the one size fits all creative and they recreate/repurpose campaigns via their own local agencies and suppliers, duplicating effort and cost and most importantly, moving away from the global brand message. If this happens all around the globe, the costs mount up exponentially. (more…)

Coca-Cola will centralise marketing campaigns, scale globally and remove creative agency duplication wherever possible, in a drive to increase marketing  campaign efficiency, it has announced.

At a meeting for investors and analysts in Atlanta, Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said “We are laser-focused on targeting the right consumers with fully integrated global marketing campaigns that work on many levels, across many geographies and cultures, and leverage a rich variety of media and channels.”

Coca-Cola Senior VP – integrated marketing, Wendy Clark added that the company’s roster of creative shops has been cut from 82 to 46, with plans to reduce that further to about 35.

“What we have is an ambition to scale and eliminate duplication where it makes sense and then have local support and agencies where they make sense. Where we need more customised or localised solutions, that will be in place.” said Ms Clark. (more…)

Publicis has appointed Olivier Altmann as global creative director, centralising global creative management through its flagship Paris office, Publicis Conseil.

Previously,  creative duties were arranged to run autonomously in each country market with the Paris office operating as a centre of excellence.

Altmann will now oversee global creative work for Publicis’s internationally aligned customers and is expected to spend at least 50% of his time on global business.

The network has not had a chief creative officer since Dave Droga stepped down from the role in January 2006.

The decision is in line with the aim of Richard Pinder, the chief operating officer, to have Publicis become a top-five ranked creative network in the Gunn Repoort by 2012. (more…)

German insurance giant Allianz has centralised its £60 million global advertising through Grey London following a shoot out with DDB Berlin. Incumbent BBDO and Young & Rubicon were eliminated at an earlier stage.

The WPP agency will set up a dedicated global team, Team Allianz@Grey, to handle brand communication, digital marketing, internal engagement, corporate design, sponsorship and the Allianz Group’s media budget.

‘Grey presented the best strategy for a close integration of our brand and business, along with a road map for the new positioning of our brand communication,” said Steven Althaus, senior vice president for global brand management at Allianz.”They also showed a strong commitment to creative excellence.” (more…)

Procurement’s role in advertising agency contracts came in for criticism at the American Advertising Federation’s annual Hall of Achievement awards yesterday, with Mediabrands newly inducted CFO Tara Comonte saying “Procurement wants to pay less than enough.”

The need to retool for an increasingly digital world as we emerge from the recession should be a catalyst for the industry to band together and reinvent its business model, said Comonte. “It’s crazy that we are paid for how long it takes to do something or by how much our clients spend.”

AAF board member Frank Cooper lent support to the idea that procurement was having a negative effect on creativity, “With global procurement leading creative and media discussions, disaster is surely on the way,” said Cooper, who is PepsiCo’s chief marketing officer-sparkling beverages. (more…)

Sony’s pan-European advertising review is nearing completion with the elimination of three agencies from the pitch process,  Naked, 180 Amsterdam and The Engine Group, leaving incumbent Fallon and Anomaly to contest the estimated £50 million account.

Sony called the pitch in August citing the desire to maximise efficiencies in a tough business climate and the growing importance of new technology to the advertising business. Sony appointed Fallon in 2002 following a shoot out with BBH.

Ben Moore, the vice-president, communications for Sony Europe, said: “We have enjoyed a highly successful relationship with Fallon during the last six years and we have been extremely pleased with the work they have done on our behalf. (more…)

JWT London has been reappointed by Rimmel to an enhanced global creative brief which now covers emerging markets Asia and Australisia as well as the US and Europe.

The £70 million account was put up for pitch as part of a global review by parent company Coty, with incumbents JWT facing competition from Fallon London and Laird & Partners, a New York based creative agency that specialises in fashion and luxury brands.

Toby Hoare, the chairman of JWT Europe, said: “Rimmel London is an important brand to both Coty and JWT globally. I’m delighted our contributions in the past and to Rimmel’s future have been recognised and we’re excited by the challenge going forward.”

Rimmel parent company Coty has been moving to consolidate other parts of its marketing supply chain in recent months and in September put its $180 global media buying and planning account up for pitch. (more…)

Dulux paints has ended its 13 year relationship with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, leaving  DDB and Euro RSCG on the final shortlist for their £60 million global advertising account. BBH has also been dropped from the pitch process.

Dulux and Crown owners AkzoNobel, called the global marketing review in September, as part of a move to consolidate all of its paint brands into a single agency.

The company appointed the intermediary Oystercatchers to handle the review.

Kerris Bright, AkzoNobel’s chief marketing officer for decorative paints, is overseeing the process. She is believed to be seeking an agency with a worldwide presence (more…)

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea is reviewing its US roster of creative agencies in a move to increase marketing campaign efficiency through a more integrated approach.

Pile and Company Consulting has been appointed to help with the review which includes what Ikea describe as an “integration of general market and Hispanic creative.”

“Ikea is evaluating all creative agency partners and identifying areas for improved communication effectiveness and efficiencies,” said Leontyne Green, marketing manager for Ikea U.S. “Integration of general market and Hispanic creative could afford Ikea the best opportunity to develop breakthrough messaging and establish a more-integrated approach to marketing communications.” (more…)