The move comes after a review involving six agencies - incumbent Diamond Ogilvy, BBDO, local shop Veil, LG agencies Silver Bullet and Wise Bell, and latecomer Oricom, one of Korea’s oldest advertising agencies.
Yu Chan Hee, Oricom’s creative consultant for the account, joined from Diamond Ogilvy last year.
It is unclear at this stage exactly how the business will be split between the two newly-appointed agencies.
LG Telecom was Diamond Ogilvy’s largest account.
“We will have to look at Diamond Ogilvy’s structure,” said SS Chong, the agency’s vice-president and chief talent officer. “We need some more serious accounts.”
Diamond Ogilvy’s clients currently include KEB, Nike, Crown Confectionary, Motorola and Olympus Camera.
Chong added that it would be difficult to recoup the telecom giant’s business, noting that telecoms accounts are among the most highly sought-after in Korea, along with cosmetics and automobile accounts.
SKT and Samsung Mobile are currently handled by TBWA Korea and Cheil respectively.
