The win also marked the agency’s transition from an ‘old school’ network to a “leading agency in an era beyond traditional media”, Jeffrey told Media. “We wouldn’t have won Nokia if we weren’t strong in Asia, hadn’t shown a renewed commitment to the creative product or updated our offering to become more competitive in digital, CRM and activation,” said Jeffrey, who was behind JWT’s rebranding from J. Walter Thompson in 2005.
“We put out a strong core team, with Craig Davis (JWT’s chief creative officer) and Guy Murphy (global head of planning), and came through after a long, tough pitch. We now have the opportunity to help Nokia transform business and culture.”
Jeffrey denied that working with Wieden & Kennedy, which won the global creative and strategy part of the Nokia business, would prove a clash of cultures. “We’re from opposite sides of the universe, but we’ve worked together well before - on Vodafone in Europe - and we can do so again,” he said.
Top of Jeffrey’s Asia wishlist is to beef up JWT’s Indonesia operation. “We are number one in India and number one in China. But there’s now a second ‘I’ in ‘BRIC’, and Indonesia is a priority for us, as is strengthening our planning offer. Planning is a recruitment priority in Asia, and we will announce a key hire in the next week or so.”
He denied envying WPP sibling Ogilvy’s dominance in Asia, adding that he was confident the agency could “better leverage our connections within WPP”. “The one who should be envious is Omnicom, who is very frustrated. In Asia, you can’t just buy talent, open an office and expect things to work out,” said Jeffrey.
He added that awards continue to be important for JWT, which was shortlisted on 92 occasions at Cannes this summer.
