Lowe China becomes a wholly-owned IPG subsidiary, headed by chairman/CEO Kitty Lun in Shanghai, while Lintas China is now 80 per cent owned by Guangming and 20 per cent by IPG.
Lintas China will now fall under the leadership of the JV’s former chairman, Jason Shen.
Lun confirmed that Lowe China would focus primarily on multinational clients, while Lintas would retain its own focus on local clients. “While both are very noble missions, they require very different visions,” said Lun.
“So far, all of Lowe China’s clients are multinationals, but it’s actually very difficult to decide what is local and what is multinational — it’s actually the way they run their business.”
The JV between Lowe and Guangming was established in 1996, but Shen admitted that a differing focus on MNC and local clients had proved a critical factor.
“As the market started to mature, and with a good part of our business coming from servicing top local brands, we found that how you service local and MNC brands is very different and that has been a challenge,” said Shen.
