The win follows Aegis Media’s confirmation of the purchase of a majority share in Heartland, which is considered China’s leading out-of-home agency.
The Chinese company officially became a part of Aegis’ Posterscope network in December 2007. Despite the change in ownership, Heartland will maintain its name and founder Jay Lin will remain as CEO. “The acquisition of Heartland is set to complement our Posterscope proposal. This expansion will also allow us to bring the digital opportunities we have in the UK to China,” said Patrick Stalhe, CEO Aegis Media Nordic and Asia-Pacific.
The Chinese company officially became a part of Aegis’ Posterscope network in December 2007. Despite the change in ownership, Heartland will maintain its name and founder Jay Lin will remain as CEO. “The acquisition of Heartland is set to complement our Posterscope proposal. This expansion will also allow us to bring the digital opportunities we have in the UK to China,” said Patrick Stalhe, CEO Aegis Media Nordic and Asia-Pacific.
“Heartland’s local insights, experience and implementation know-how, together with Posterscope’s worldwide network and international perspective, puts us in a uniquely powerful position to help our clients win,” added Jay Lin, CEO of Heartland.
According to a source, clients in China are looking for agencies that have the capacity to plan both strategically and creatively — and who can implement what they’ve planned, noting that this was one of Heartland’s strengths. “Heartland’s expertise lies in implementation in China,” the source said.
The Yili business is expected to be worth approximately US$12.4 million, and covers media planning for all of Yili’s out-of-home advertising in China, ahead of a year that is expected to see the Olympic sponsor make a strong push.
Chief competitor Mengniu, founded by a former Yili employee, has been perceived as having the edge in terms of outdoor advertising, despite not being an Olympic sponsor.
Heartland’s assignment is to handle all of Yili’s outdoor media planning from January until the Olympics in August. “The solution is very innovative, with integrated out-of-home planning, and showed good team work between Vizeum and Heartland,” said a Yili spokesperson.
“Working with Heartland can help us provide clients with more innovative use of out-of-home advertising, and enhance OOH planning,” said Elizabeth Zhou, general manager, Vizeum China.
Heartland already counts several Olympic sponsors among its client list. However, the Yili account is its first major domestic Olympic sponsor. “This is a major step for us in expanding our services to domestic Chinese corporations and we are very proud to have Yili as one of our Olympic sponsor clients,” said Lin.
The Yili win comes after Heartland secured three other accounts handled by Posterscope last year.
Outdoor media duties for adidas, BMW and Pernod Ricard (Chivas, Martell and Ballantines), shifted in late 2007 (Media, 18 September).
Heartland has a mixture of direct client appointments from Nokia, Coca-Cola and Hitachi and business from international agencies.
