TOKYO: In a fresh blow for Japanese agencies, vehicle insurance
company AXA Direct and Renault have moved an estimated US$30
million in total billings from Hakuhodo to Zenith Media.
Publicis has retained the creative assignments for both accounts. It is
understood that both companies left Hakuhodo in search of the personal
attention they believed a smaller shop could offer. The benefits of
Western media disciplines in devising media programmes that go beyond
the mainstays of television and print to incorporate out-of-home media
also encouraged the move to Zenith. "Japan's recession has made all
advertisers more interested in maximising media budgets; there is
increasing interest in a Western approach to media planning," said
division director Naoya Norisugi.
Zenith will handle planning for both accounts, leaving buying to partner
agency Yomiko Adverting. "We are closely integrated with Yomiko. We can
have planning and buying under the same roof which improves quality
control." Zenith launched in Japan in April 2000 as a division of
Yomiko, Japan's sixth largest agency, and a shareholder in Saatchi &
Saatchi Japan. In recent months, several international brands, including
20th Century Fox and Kit Kat, have defected to multinational agencies.
