WPP shops ramp up as Ford grows

by Sharon Desker Shaw, Media Asia 23-Apr-04

BEIJING: WPP agencies handling Ford in China have strengthened their creative and media teams to support the US auto giant's expansion in the world's fastest-growing car market.

Driven by the increasing complexity and size of the Ford and the US$98 million Chang'An Ford Automobile joint-venture businesses, the Beijing-based offices of J. Walter Thompson and MindShare have imported two senior executives with Ford experience.

At press-time, Danielle Godbier - who was until recently with JWT Australia's Ford team - was due to relocate to Beijing as a director in charge of Ford. JWT has also hired Edmund Li as senior account director based in Chongqing on Ford Chang' An, handling the Mondeo and Fiesta lines. Mainland-born Li, who has worked with DDB and TBWA, previously handled Shanghai General Motors when he was with D'Arcy before relocating to Canada in the late '90s. JWT Beijing managing director Alec Cheng said the agency plans to hire five to six creatives, including a CD, for a dedicated Beijing-based Ford creative team. JWT has spent the last two months looking for creatives with auto experience. "It's difficult to find good creatives with auto experience because auto advertising is very different in terms of implementation and the structure of the campaign from FMCG," said Cheng.

The second import is Alex Reynolds, who has joined MindShare as its Beijing-based planning and business director on Ford. Reynolds spent the last three years with MindShare London on Ford.

MindShare Beijing has also hired a buying director, Zoie Chao, ex-Carat Taiwan, with overall responsibilities, including Ford, and Sui Dan, who was previously with ZenithMedia before going to the UK for further education, as media manager.

Ford is in a catch-up mode having entered China well after General Motors and Volkswagen. It launched the Mondeo for the most competitive C/D market in March and plans to roll out the next Mondeo model in three months.

Ford has also expanded its Chongqing plant to produce an annual output of 100,000 cars, a year ahead of schedule.