The development means that Aegis Media will pitch against J&J’s Asia-Pacific incumbents Universal McCann and OMD. The network is already contesting the EMEA leg of the review, but does not currently hold any J&J business globally.
MindShare earlier dropped out, citing inadequate resources to handle the business. MindShare regional CEO Ashutosh Srivastava denied that any concerns over conflicting clients, specifically Unilever, precipitated the decision.
“The one and only reason is that we’re finding it hard to ramp up capacity to handle and transition such large accounts.” MindShare’s pullout comes despite its hold on planning duties for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, which was acquired by J&J last year, and MediaCom’s J&J business in India.
