German cosmetics and detergent group Henkel – owner of brands such as the Schwarzkopf hair-care line – is considering a review of its European media duties if its British media shop CIA merges with The Media Edge, incumbent on Colgate-Palmolive’s account.
Henkel’s international media director Ian Gallois revealed that a review of the £15 million British business had been planned since June, but was put on hold by the will-they-won’t-they merger saga of Tempus Group and WPP Group, the respective parents of CIA and TME.
CIA will be asked to show how it could handle the business in the event of a merger. Failure to do so will initiate a pan-European review in January 2002. Gallois has already held formal credentials meetings with BBJ and Manning Gottlieb Media, both Henkel roster agencies in Europe.
The Henkel review may be the first of several should CIA and TME merge. One major conflict would be between Ford, a big WPP client, and Chrysler, whose European media buying is largely handled by Tempus.
News source: CampaignLive (UK)
