J. Walter Thompson has poached the CIA Medianetwork vice-chairman,
Marco Rimini, to fill the newly created post of director of strategy and
development.
Rimini will take over management responsibility for all JWT’s strategic
activities, including account planning, IT, information and Blue Logic,
the agency’s brand consultancy. He will report directly to JWT’s chief
executive, Stephen Carter.
Rimini will also help steer the evolution of the communication planning
function at JWT and his media expertise will be valuable to the agency
as it prepares to hive off its media department into MindShare, the
joint media operation with its sister WPP agency, Ogilvy & Mather.
Rimini’s is the first of a number of senior appointments planned as part
of an overhaul of JWT’s management structure since Carter took over as
chief executive in September.
Carter said that Rimini brought a unique set of skills and insights into
the agency. ’He will be right for taking us to new areas for the
strategic development of a new type of agency,’ he added.
The move marks Rimini’s return to the creative agency world after four
years in the media sector at CIA. He joined CIA after spells at Horner
Collis & Kirvan and Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper as planning director.
’This is a big, exciting job,’ Rimini said. ’I’m looking forward to the
challenge of developing JWT in the right way for the years to come.’
His departure will come as another serious blow to CIA, which parted
company with its managing director, Mike Tunnicliffe, and its marketing
director, Mike Anderson, earlier this year.
Mike Elms, the chief executive of CIA, said he was sorry to lose Rimini
but explained that the agency’s strategic planning function was already
firmly in place. ’The task now is to implement that expertise,’ he
said.
CIA is not planning to replace Rimini directly but is looking for a
creative thinker to complement its management line-up.
Banks Hoggins O’Shea has scooped the pounds 4.5 million advertising
task to position Waitrose as the top supermarket for value and
quality.
The move coincides with a new determination by the John Lewis subsidiary
to put more effort into branding. Waitrose recorded a 33 per cent
increase in trading profit to pounds 71 million in its last set of
financial results.
However, it is under constant threat from the other large supermarket
chains, which have reacted much faster to the changes that have swept
through grocery retailing in recent years, such as the rise in
own-brands, value-added and non-food products and Sunday opening.
The partnership’s rivals have also put more effort into carving out
their own marketing niches, such as Tesco’s reputation for innovation,
Asda’s price-conscious appeal and Safeway’s emphasis on service.
With Banks Hoggins in place, Waitrose hopes to capitalise on its
reputation for quality, in much the same way as rival chains like Marks
& Spencer and Sainsbury’s.
A press and poster campaign is due to break next spring and Banks
Hoggins will also look at direct marketing, sales promotion and
sponsorship.
The agency picked up the full-service account after a three-way pitch
against Delaney Fletcher Bozell and Waitrose’s incumbent of four years,
LLS Jaffe Keating.
St Luke’s was asked to pitch but withdrew from the review last
month.
Sven Olsen, a partner at Banks Hoggins, said ’Waitrose is the world’s
best-kept shopping secret. Banks Hoggins is going to change all that.’
