HP to consolidate account with Publicis; OptiMedia to get media

Close on the heels of the appointment of Param Saikia as the agency COO, Publicis India is back in the news. The estimated Rs 25-crore advertising account of Compaq (which is part of new HP business post the HP-Compaq global merger in September last year) is set to move from FCB-Ulka to the Mumbai-based subsidiary of the French advertising major. For the record, the Compaq account was earlier split between FCB-Ulka's Delhi and Mumbai offices and will henceforth be handled by Publicis' Delhi and Bangalore branches.

While officials at HP India confirmed the news to agencyfaqs!, it seems both Publicis and FCB-Ulka are yet to receive an official intimation from HP to this effect. Since the legal process of the Compaq-HP merger is not complete, the transition of the Compaq business from FCB-Ulka to Publicis will happen in a phased manner.

This development is a direct fallout of a recent global move by HP to realign the entire HP (HP plus Compaq) business among three agencies. According to a global release from HP, "Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco will serve as lead agency responsible for worldwide brand advertising development. The Publicis Groupe Worldwide will serve as HP's global agency network with responsibility for products and solutions advertising. OptiMedia was named as HP's media agency responsible for all worldwide media placement. Interactive agency assignments will remain unchanged."

What does this means in the Indian context? According to a senior HP executive, "What the statement implies is all corporate image-building communication of the new HP will happen out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and all product- and solution-specific communication would be the prerogative of Publicis Groupe Worldwide. But while it is not clear how the corporate advertising part will be handled in India, it is amply clear that all product, solution and promo communication will fall into Publicis India's lap." Also, in line with the international alignment, Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) Worldwide, which was Compaq's ad agency of record, will gradually move its advertising work to OptiMedia.

The move to realign the combined Compaq-HP was expected for quite some time now. Prior to the merger, the two companies, HP and Compaq relied on a network of advertising agencies for marketing initiatives around the world. As Gary Elliott, vice-president, HP marketing communications, was quoted in the release, "Consolidating agency resources was an essential part of creating one brand and one voice for the company."

While the scenario in India is likely to be clear in a few days, it is important to get the history of the two brands and their agencies in the right perspective.

Two years ago, when HP realigned its advertising account with the The Publicis Groupe globally, HP's Indian counterpart aligned the entire business with Mudra Communications. That was presumably because, as an executive close to the development puts it, "Publicis, which had a negligible presence in Delhi, was not equipped to handle HP's huge brand portfolio". As the global realignment could not be ignored for long, Publicis in India began work for HP by releasing international ads starting end 2000. Then in January 2001, Publicis got a foothold in Delhi with the acquisition of Maadhyam.

While Mudra continued to be on the HP roster, the company also empanelled Studio Communications and Everest Integrated Communication to handle sundry local creative work. In fact, Everest has just released a full-page print campaign of the complete range of HP products - ‘Bestsellers from HP' - in April 2002. Around the close of last year, it seems, HP moved the advertising business including the entire AOR account to Publicis. Mudra ceased to be HP's advertising agency. When the home PC division of HP moved to Bangalore, Saatchi & Saatchi was taken on to service this division.

As things stand now, with the impending move of the Compaq business to Publicis, there will be three agencies on the company's roster - Publicis, the lead agency, along with Studio and Everest, which would be pressed into service as and when required. However, the exact size of the new HP business is not certain as some of the brands from the HP and Compaq portfolio will be phased out.

Thus, at the end of a long-winding HP-Compaq merger tale, both Mudra and FCB-Ulka have lost their parts of the advertising business. Mid 2000, FCB-Ulka had to forsake HP, because Compaq worldwide became an FCB client worldwide. And HP went to Mudra, scuttling the global realignment with Publicis, and then it ceased to be an agency by the end of 2001. And now the entire new HP account is set to move to Publicis. © 2002 agencyfaqs!