The computer chips maker came first. It concluded a five-month search for an agency that could build its profile online, choosing OMD ahead of Starcom and incumbent Universal McCann in a final round of pitching.
Intel’s $300 million account is worth $60 million in Asia-Pacific, with digital expected to shift from 30 to 60 per cent of total spend.
Intel’s $300 million account is worth $60 million in Asia-Pacific, with digital expected to shift from 30 to 60 per cent of total spend.
Intel’s VP, sales and marketing group, and director of integrated marketing, Nancy Bhagat, said in a statement: “Each of the finalists impressed us, but OMD gave us a stronger sense of possessing world-class media-industry leadership and state-of-the-art business intelligence and analytics.”
Then came Estée Lauder, an even bigger account with estimated spend of $400 million globally. The cosmetics and fragrance giant puts most of its budget in magazines and on TV, but, as with Intel, the review was designed to find ways its brands can be better positioned online.
The review was also called to consolidate the company’s media business, which has been divided between a large number of agencies by region to date. OMD already handles the account in Australia and Japan, the company’s largest market in Asia-Pacific.
Estée Lauder’s media is worth $75 million in Asia-Pacific, and the focus this year will be on three ‘driver’ markets in which its products are in increasingly high demand: China, Korea and Japan.
Its Clinique brand will receive most media support, but other major products include Aramis and Origins, as well as the eponymous brand.
The marathon eight-month review saw OMD edge out GroupM. Starcom and MPG are also believed to have been involved at an earlier stage.
Barry Cupples, Omnicom Media Group’s CEO, could not be reached for comment.
