Although the shift of the chipmaker’s US$300 million global media account from Universal to OMD will mean a loss of $60 million in billings to the Asia-Pacific operation, “there is no talk of redundancies yet”, said Cressall.
“We had a plan in place for the possibility that Intel would move, and the handover process should not present us with staff issues.”
Intel is moving its regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore, which would have meant an account management re-jig, noted Cressall.
Revenue lost from the Intel departure had already been covered in some markets.
In Australia, the country he left to fill the regional post earlier this year, Universal has won two significant accounts since the Intel move, including the Football Federation of Australia.
Universal is also rolling out a plan to align its operations with IPG sister media agency Initiative.
Cressall and Initiative Asia-Pacific president King Lai have formed a joint management team to look at reducing overheads.
The two agencies will remain as separate brands but they will share finance staff, who work closely with the senior management team.
Other backroom functions, such as IT and research, will also be shared. In some markets, such as Thailand, the two agencies have moved into the same office space.
A strategy for bringing Universal and Initiative closer together began a year ago and in some markets, the agencies have merged completely.
The creation of a holding company, IPG Media, last May led to the merger of Universal and Initiative in Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan.
In Indonesia, the move followed a series of large account losses for Universal, including the Pizza Hut and Bentoel cigarettes accounts.
