Dyson China ends partnership with Mindshare, hands media duties to Publicis

Dyson has awarded its media account to Publicis Media in China, ending its 11-year relationship with GroupM, Campaign has learned.

First reported by Campaign in February 2024, the British household appliances giant placed its media account with Mindshare under review after the GroupM bribery scandal in China was revealed.

Campaign understands that IPG Mediabrands and Dentsu also pitched for Dyson but were ultimately unsuccessful. As Comvergence reported in February, Dyson’s current billings with the agency were US$124 million.

Dyson’s media business in China was last reviewed in 2021. Before that, Mindshare held the account for eight years from 2013. Mindshare subsequently retained the then $315 million pitch in 2022, representing 58% of billings in the agency’s household appliances sector.  

Since 2022, Mindshare has handled media planning and purchasing for Dyson and played a crucial role in strategic management and execution. The network’s responsibilities included overseeing ecommerce operations in China and managing all offline media buying and planning for Dyson.

Campaign understands Publicis Media will take over all of Mindshare's responsibilites. When reached by Campaign, Publicis and Dyson declined to comment, while GroupM and Mindshare did not respond to queries.

In October 2023, three GroupM trading executives in China were detained over bribery charges. This sparked WPP's internal investigation, and soon after, GroupM China CEO and WPP country manager Patrick Xu resigned after a decade with the company.

Several weeks later, GroupM’s clients including Dyson, Swatch, and Yum! Brands placed their media account with the agency under review and sent a RFPs to various agencies, including Publicis.