At last, some good news from Lowe Manila: the agency wins from the realignment of Unilever’s Knorr business in Southeast Asia, effective first quarter 2009.
Having taken a damagingly large chunk of work away to Singapore, Unilever has given some back. The total alignment is estimated at $149 million, and includes Western Europe, Central Eastern Europe, Latin America, Greater China and South Asia.
According to agency head Mariles Gustilo, “The Knorr pitch was led out of our London headquarters, ably assisted by our offices in Germany, Argentina, Spain & South Africa. The account will be coordinated out of Lowe London, with creative hubs leading the work in each region.” The Southeast Asia hub will be Singapore; the client in the Philip-pines is Mr. Benjie Yap, Managing Director of Unilever Foods. Also according to Gustilo, new staffing will wait until the scope of work from the new business becomes clearer.
In a memo to staff, JWT Worldwide Chairman & CEO Bob Jeffrey noted that, "When JWT acquired Knorr in 2001 it was a brand in decline that had a diverse collection of companies with diverse local marketing and communications. Seven years later Knorr was rated by Millward Brown as Unilever’s strongest global brand, according to their Global Power Scale, with a score of 47 on a scale of 1-50."
