Lenovo hands global ad account to IBM agency Ogilvy & Mather

by Staff, Brand Republic 11-May-05, 08:55

NEW YORK - WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather has been appointed by the world's number three PC maker Lenovo to handle its global $100m (£53m) advertising account.

Lenovo is the technology company formed by the sale of IBM's PC business to Chinese electronics giant Lenovo Group. The $1.25bn deal was announced late last year and completed at the beginning of May.

The challenge for the company now is to build the Lenovo brand and try to give it the same high profile that IBM has. Ogilvy & Mather has been IBM's lead advertising agency since 1984.

Along with the worldwide brand advertising, O&M will create ads for Lenovo's Think-branded products, including ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops. Sister agencies OgilvyOne, OgilvyInteractive and MindShare will handle advertising, one-to-one marketing, interactive media and related marketing activities.

Deepak Advani, chief marketing officer at Lenovo, said: "Lenovo is now poised to become one of the most well-known and respected brands in the world, based on award-winning products, innovative technology and design. Ogilvy has a proven record in building global brands and is the ideal partner to help us around the world."

The first ads to support Lenovo will begin appearing this week in leading business publications, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post. Lenovo has already been signed as the worldwide computer sponsor of the International Olympic Committee for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Shelly Lazarus, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, said: "Lenovo is one of the most exciting companies in the world today. We are looking at a watershed opportunity for China-based enterprises to firmly establish leadership in the world market."

Its deal with IBM to acquire the US firm's loss-making PC division, will see Lenovo use the IBM brand for its PCs and laptops for the next five years. It has already confirmed that it will use the Thinkpad and ThinkCenter brands of notebooks and desktops.

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