The closed review is reportedly being limited to the current incumbents alone.
Euro currently handles the bulk of the regional creative and media business, after adding the Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan accounts to its existing hold on China, Hong Kong and India following Dell’s last review two years ago (Media, 3 October 2005.)
The previous review saw Euro displace incumbent Hakuhodo, limiting the Japanese agency’s Dell business to Japan and Korea. Meanwhile, DDB consolidated its hold over Australia and New Zealand at the expense of Euro.
The current review comes as DDB’s global relationship with Dell weakens. The Omnicom-owned agency has been displaced as Dell’s AOR in the US by BBDO and also lost a swathe of the European business to Danish agency AdPeople.
“We are confident of holding and growing the business,” said George Gallate, Euro RSCG CEO of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
The agencies will reportedly face off via Dell’s online auction system. Said one source: “You have to look at the sum of all the parts to understand the individual areas. It’s a very difficult piece of business to run and make any money on if you don’t already have the business.”
IDC figures show Dell’s Asia-Pacific ex-Japan share grew from seven per cent in 2004 to almost nine per cent last year, despite seeing global market share dip from 18.2 per cent to 17.1 per cent. IDC head of personal systems research Bryan Ma said much of the regional growth is being driven out of China, where Dell’s corporate sales growth is surpassing expectations.
“Dell has been very aggressive in China,” said Ma, adding that the company’s high-profile PR setbacks in the mainland last year — a class-action lawsuit from Chinese consumers — were a “minor slap on the wrist”.
