SINGAPORE: IBM's decision in the US to consolidate its direct
marketing and interactive accounts internationally with OgilvyOne and
Wunderman/Impiric is having dire consequences in Asia.
Impiric, as the agency is known in Asia, is about to lose IBM's
below-the-line account in the region to OgilvyOne.
The only exception will be Australia and Japan. But the loss in other
markets has resulted in Impiric reducing its workforce, starting with 10
retrenchments in Singapore.
The agency lost out because IBM's US technocrats decided in August that
Wunderman/Impiric would be its agency partner driving "product demand
generation (PDG)" worldwide, while OgilvyOne would lead "strategic
solution demand generation" (SDG) worldwide.
PDG is product-based advertising, while SDG is more brand focused.
Since IBM will run mostly SDG campaigns in Asia, the company has chosen
OgilvyOne. OgilvyOne's sister company Ogilvy & Mather is already
handling IBM's above-the-line advertising in Asia.
The earlier decision to consolidate with two agencies - bumping Havas'
Brann Worldwide off the roster - was made to reduce costs.
IBM also wanted to ensure that whichever agency handled direct marketing
would also work on online marketing because both are direct response
mediums.
"Interactive marketing is becoming an increasingly utilised marketing
tool and requires us to better integrate interactive and traditional
demand generation techniques," IBM said in a statement.
"This agency realignment (to Wunderman/Impiric and OgilvyOne) leverages
best-in-class agency skills and experience and facilitates significant
agency fee reductions."
Wolfgang Haf, Impiric's Asia-Pacific president, was unavailable for
comment as was John Goodman, OgilvyOne Asia-Pacific president.
Both agencies are owned by WPP and,according to industry sources, WPP,
instigated the agency consolidation by approaching IBM with the promise
of fee reductions if it used fewer agencies.
