Senior WPP sources, however, claim that Maxus will continue to work on the telco’s India business, despite Vodafone’s global alliance with OMD.
OMG executives dispute the claim, adding that the group is expected to take control of Vodafone’s key Asia-Pacific business "globally", with OMD dislodging Maxus as the company’s agency in India.
OMG executives dispute the claim, adding that the group is expected to take control of Vodafone’s key Asia-Pacific business "globally", with OMD dislodging Maxus as the company’s agency in India.
Meanwhile, sources have also suggested PHD will be reinstated in New Zealand after it won Vodafone’s media account in June.
The debate is in line with the confusion regional agencies have felt in regards to the review.
Reports earlier this month prematurely noted that GroupM had won the worldwide account, through Vodafone quickly refuted that claim. It was further reported that Mitchell Communications in Australia, which was rumoured to be in discussion with WPP to be acquired and adopted into its GroupM family, was also in line to win Vodafone’s account in the market. Yet, its ties with Australia’s second-largest telco operator Optus prevented the deal from being solidified, and Vodafone instead reappointed Ikon Communications as its agency.
Agency sources close to Vodafone’s accounts additionally said they were unsure of what markets were to be considered in the region and even doubted that Vodafone would be able to choose a single agency to represent it globally.
The pitch was called in June and was held out of Vodafone’s UK headquarters. The account’s shortlist was believed to additionally include Carat, which was Vodafone UK’s newly appointed media agency, and GroupM, which had been considered the frontrunner of the pitch.
Yet, the news took one Omnicom Group executive by surprise, who called the win “awesome, really awesome” and confirmed that the direction of the pitch was consistently up in the air, adding, “you never really know about these things”.
