Burnett picks up Philips business and D'Arcy exec

ASIA-PACIFIC: Philips has awarded the creative assignments previously handled by D'Arcy to its sister agency Leo Burnett following a worldwide review, which included evaluation meetings in London, New York and Chicago.

At least one non-Publicis Groupe agency also took part in the review, industry observers said.

Annual billings for the account is estimated to be worth about US$10 million.

Following the decision, Burnett announced that it would hire former D'Arcy South Asia managing director, Dick van Motman, as Asia-Pacific vice-president and regional account director for Philips' domestic appliance, lighting and medical equipment brands and Procter & Gamble's Whisper.

Burnett regional managing director, Richard Pinder, said that van Motman's appointment was important because he had been the lead player for the Philips and P&G brands during his time at D'Arcy, which was shut down last year following the purchase of its parent company Bcom3 by Publicis Groupe.

He added that talks are under way to try to hire other senior D'Arcy executives who had worked on the account.

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