The appointment, which sidelined incumbent Universal McCann, came as the mobile phone maker said that its global profit would drop by about six per cent in the second quarter as Sars has hit sales in Asia, including China. The shift coincides with Gary Sin, the managing director of Magna China - Interpublic Group's media negotiating unit - transfer to a senior position at Universal in China.
However, McCann-Erickson China Greater China chief executive officer, T.H. Peng, said the move was part of a restructuring of the agency to create a Shanghai hub and was not related to Motorola changing agencies (see page 3).
The Motorola review, estimated to bill about US$70 million, took three months, and focused on a range of media capabilities, including a requirement "to negotiate the best possible deals on our behalf across a full range of conventional and non-traditional media", said Rachelle Berges, Motorola's Hong Kong-based, global media director. Over the past year-and-a-half, Motorola has tried to reinvigorate its brand globally with its 'Moto' campaign to fight off Nokia in the premium segment of the market.
