It has been a tough year for Universal McCann in Asia. The media agency has lost large pieces of business across the region, nowhere more noticeably than in China where -- in the past 18 months -- it has parted ways with the likes of L'Oréal, Novartis, Nestlé and Johnson & Johnson.
The agency has also said goodbye to China managing director Torie Henderson, along with regional director Allan Medforth, this latter move a direct result of last year's appointment of new global chief executive officer Nick Brien. As Brien tells it, speaking to Media at the network's regional summit in Singapore, Asia needs a regional head to be based in either Hong Kong or Singapore, rather than in Sydney, where Medforth is located. It is just one of many issues that the ex-Arc Worldwide CEO must grapple with as he attempts to steer Universal McCann back onto a more stable footing.
Upon joining the network in mid-2005, Brien made clear one key priority: to shift Universal away from McCann Erickson and into a more autonomous role within IPG Media. The rollout of the combined Magna buying force -- comprising Universal and Initiative -- in Asian markets is one example of this, but Brien is clear that it is brain, rather than brawn, which will mean the difference between success and failure for Universal. "I believe that in many markets where we may not be able to compete in terms of scale, the new value as a differentiator will be our IP, our creativity, intelligence and thought leadership," says Brien. "One thing we know is that the power of mass media declines everyday. I don't see scale as the competitive differentiator. I can't allow that to happen. I've got to make sure this business is all about talent."
Given that GroupM is believed to control approximately 60 per cent of media buying in Asia-Pacific, Brien's focus on upstream thinking is understandable, and may yet be Universal's salvation. Listening to him, it becomes clear that the agency he would most like to emulate is no GroupM behemoth but rather, UK communications planning specialists Naked. As someone who left Starcom to successfully grow Arc, Brien is particularly well-versed about the new media paradigm -- what he terms the "fusion of art and science" -- but admits that convincing clients in Asia of its importance may yet prove complex.
"We have to rebase the business model, and clients cannot expect to have that all as part of what we're doing, and I think our competitors are all in the same boat," he explains. "There are certain clients where I will provide that capability whether they pay for it or not. We have to invest in our business and clients. Otherwise I'm vulnerable on two fronts, in the traditional model and the new model."
Much, of course, will depend on the calibre of talent that Brien can attract to Universal, not least to fill the regional and China roles. He is also on the search for regional heads of digital, accountability, and communications planning -- to better fill out the agency's offering to clients. "This has been an organisation that has not had the highest level of love, care, attention and investment," he confesses. "The most serious part of IPG is now media. There can be no doubting now that the challenge from both an efficiency and effectiveness point of view is making the media communications challenge one where you will either win or lose."
With this in mind, Brien is keen to preach the mantra of 'interdependence' with McCann Worldgroup, a relationship which he hopes will be based more on mutual benefit, and will allow Universal to develop and deliver communications. "I'm an integrationist and I see that our clients don't necessarily want a media solution. They need media services but they want a marketing solution," he points out. "I can draw on real expertise in all of these different areas, but we will no longer be the media department of McCann Erickson -- but a separate discipline within Worldroup. That is a big psychological difference."
