Y&R fortunes up despite setbacks in the region

Of Y&R’s top 10 clients, eight are growing year-on- year in terms of revenue, said McLennan, despite the impending gloom of a global recession.

“The rise of commodity prices will affect us later this year and the next,” he said. “But the benefit of having global business is that they will divert spend to emerging markets such as Brazil, India, Russia and China.”

“Our revenues are up year-on-year. They are holding the line. Our full-year targets for this year are certainly meet-able.”

McClennan’s comments come at a tough time for the network in Asia. Since the departure of former Asia-Pacific CEO Chris Jaques, Y&R has lost SingTel and Sony and top talent such as Rob Campbell, the regional creative planner, who moved to Google. The regional pitch for OCBC Bank is under review.

McClennan countered that Y&R’s win of LG across 50 markets in December, which led to the resignation of Sony and Haier, has solidified the network. “Two years ago, our revenues were US$840 million for Y&R advertising globally. Now they are $1.1 billion. We have 7,000 staff worldwide. We are solid and growing,” he said.

On Y&R’s global creative output, he says: “I’m not happy with where our standards are. We’re OK in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, but Tony Granger’s [Y&R’s global CD] number one priority is to produce work everywhere that matches the strength of our client list.”

China, too, is a concern for McClennan. “But I have an open cheque book to look at acquisitions across all sectors,” he says.

On Y&R’s progress in Asia, he said: “Most networks would kill to have the relationship that we enjoy with Dentsu [the 50:50 joint venture, DYR].”