Henkel, the German detergent and cosmetics giant, is reviewing its
£15 million UK media account.
The account, which includes the Schwarzkopf haircare line, is at
present handled by Tempus' media agency, CIA. However, following the
news that CIA might be merged with The Media Edge, which handles the
Colgate-Palmolive account, Henkel is expected to extend the review to
the rest of Europe.
Ian Gallois, the international media director at Henkel, said he held
formal credentials meetings with the two other Henkel roster agencies
for Europe - BBJ and Manning Gottlieb Media - earlier this week.
Gallois said the UK media review had been planned since June 2001 but
was delayed by the drawn-out WPP/ Tempus deal. He added that CIA will
have the chance to demonstrate how it could handle the business if it is
merged into a single agency with TME but a full-blown pan-European
review will kick off in January 2002 if it cannot do so.
A number of other major potential conflicts arising from the Tempus/WPP
deal have also emerged.
Ford is a major WPP client while Chrysler, owned by DaimlerChrysler,
uses Tempus as its main media buyer in Europe and is said to be unhappy
about the situation.
In the UK, CIA handles Nationwide and Zurich Financial Services while
TME has the Citibank account.
CIA also has Cussons and Novartis while TME has Revlon and
Colgate-Palmolive.
Negotiations over the management and future of CIA and TME will move
forward when the heads of both agencies meet later this week. This
direction came from a Tempus/WPP board meeting held last week in London.
It has yet to be decided who will get the top job at CIA/TME.
