While Rinaldi declined to comment, it is thought that the company will attempt to bring some order to a roster that is believed to include over 15 agencies in China alone. “This is a situation where you have 22 countries each with their own stable of agencies,” explained a source. “The China agencies all have a project orientation. Obviously, Haier’s going to have to look at reconciling all of them.”
At present, the bulk of the business is with DraftFCB, although other agencies that work on Haier include ADK, WE Marketing and Saatchi & Saatchi. Meanwhile, Y&R’s status as Haier’s Olympics marketing agency remains in question after the agency was asked to reshoot the creative for the campaign.
While Y&R Greater China chairman Tom Kao refused to comment, he confirmed that former Y&R China CEO Wei Wei Chen - who won the Haier account - had left the agency (Media, 5 September).
