Michele Martin reports on the team running Leagas Delaney’s worldwide
work
It’s a dilemma that still only faces a smattering of shops. But as
clients seem increasingly willing to hand international business to
single agencies, the question remains: ‘How do you run such accounts
without a network?’
Leagas Delaney believes it has come up with an answer for its global
client, Adidas. In the US, it has set up a separate agency to handle the
nine-months-old account (Campaign, 17 February). But in Europe it has
done the opposite, abandoning its loose affiliation with agencies such
as CLM/BBDO in Paris and Germany’s Jung von Matt in favour of a
centralised account team of foreign nationals based in London.
Andrea Carbonara completed the line-up just a month ago from CME KHBB in
Turin and has been given control of Adidas in Europe’s Latin countries.
Three months earlier, Axel Pfennigschmidt, a German, joined from Select
Corporate Communications in New York to look after Germany, Switzerland
and Eastern Europe. Other foreign nationals arriving in the last year
include Agathe Decronumbourg from Dassas Publicite in France and Roger
Ruegger from Lacher-Dumas in Switzerland. Colin Clarke, who oversees the
UK, Holland and Scandinavia, and the board account director, Tim Little,
are the only senior Brits at the helm.
A multilingual account team running international business from London
without local affiliations is not in itself unusual - Bartle Bogle
Hegarty, for example, acts similarly on some accounts. But the
difference is in the role Leagas Delaney intends its account directors
to play.
The reorganisation emphasises the creative role of account handling,
with each director expected to use his knowledge as a foreign national
much as a planner might, writing creative briefs and advising on
translations. Little explains: ‘This ensures that a client understands
why the creative should work in his country and helps us understand what
different influences are at play.’
On-the-spot client servicing will be pared down to a minimum but new e-
mail, Apple ISDN lines and video-conferencing will enhance links with
the agency. ‘People would rather talk to someone who can go upstairs and
talk to Tim Delaney than an intermediary agency,’ Little says.
And he believes the system is such a good way of protecting an
international idea from local agency politics that it could be
instigated by networks. He says: ‘Any agency will tell you it argues
more within its own network than it ever does with the client.’
