Following a Review, Lenovo Appoints Stagwell's Assembly as New Media AOR

Assembly took home Lenovo’s media business following a review managed by MediaSense that began last September and concluded early this year. The Stagwell agency wrangled the media assignment from Publicis’ Performics. As of this month, Assembly manages media for Lenovo’s consumer, commercial and small- and medium-sized business segments. The global assignment includes North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. “It was a hard-fought pitch, and the usual suspects were participating,” said James Townsend, global CEO of Stagwell Media Network and Assembly. Townsend declined to mention specific agencies that competed for the business, but the list includes incumbent Publicis’ Performics and Dentsu. Performics held the Lenovo account since 2018, and it remains Lenovo’s media agency in China. However, according to Assembly, China was not part of the RFP. Publicis also retained Lenovo’s global ecommerce business. Dentsu nabbed the business in the remainder of the Asia Pacific region. Lenovo Not Afraid to Make Fun of Itself in Native Content Explaining why the account went into review, Emily Ketchen, vp and CMO of the Intelligent Devices Group at Lenovo told Adweek: "As a global company in a fast-paced industry, it’s our practice to conduct regular evaluations of all our key agency partners. This helps ensure that our expectations remain aligned and we’re able to collaborate with the world’s top marketing talent." Assembly’s global reach makes it Stagwell’s foremost media agency. Its team is 1,600-people large, with a presence in more than 20 locations around the world. With global scale also comes a desire to retain a nimble approach to work. “What we're trying to build is an agency that has that agile mindset as an agile business model, which means we can fit and flex accordingly,” Townsend said. A tech-driven decision Lenovo and the agency had instant chemistry, according to agency leaders. During the pitch, the brand encouraged Assembly to challenge its thinking. “What they said was that at every step of the way, from brief to final moments and into our engagement thus far, that we do just that,” said Rick Acampora, global COO at Assembly and global chief client officer at Stagwell Media Network. “We challenged them every step of the way, in a very partnering, strategic sort of way.” Infusing Lenovo’s media strategy with sophisticated technology is part of the plan, and its Stage audience insights platform elevated the pitch. “As the technology and marketing industries undergo a profound transformation in an increasingly fragmented digital ecosystem, marketing needs to adapt and modernize as we navigate this new environment,” said Gina Qiao, senior vice president and chief strategy and marketing officer at Lenovo, in a statement. Embracing the in-house agency The right organizational structure can be just as important as a media strategy. Lenovo’s RFP asked agencies to imagine a way of working with its Global Media Strategy Center of Excellence, specifically inquiring about how the agency and the in-house group might split up work. Lenovo's Center of Excellence "is positioned between Lenovo’s local marketing teams and external agency partners to guide the campaign process end to end, from media strategy and planning, buying and execution to data analysis and insights," Ketchen said. Prepared with examples of the pitfalls of in-house and external agency relationships, Assembly proposed a dynamic model in which it will work closely with, and also provide consultative guidance to, Lenovo’s in-house team. “We brought a very nontraditional point of view to in-housing,” Acampora added. Lenovo will consult the media agency on how to infuse strategic thinking and media prowess into its in-house group. The arrangement lends inherent flexibility to the relationship between client and agency by giving the brand space to evolve over time and perhaps take more strategic projects in-house. "They got our vision and demonstrated the technical capabilities and overall commitment to collaborate in our marketing strategy," Ketchen told Adweek. "What’s key is their global scale and agility to stay in lockstep with our in-house teams to activate globally and locally." Finding innovative ways to work alongside their in-house counterparts is a key concern for agencies. More than 77% of brands now have an in-house agency, according to IHAF’s 2021 Productivity and the Pandemic report, fielded in partnership with Forrester Research. Agency Brands Still Matter. Just Ask Stagwell’s Assembly A relationship with inherent flexibility Supporting the brand’s in-house expansion is one way to create a relationship that can adapt to changing business needs. “It starts off as a partnership and a shared, single team mentality, in terms of making their strategic decisions. Over time we'll see where that level feels appropriate for the Lenovo business,” Townsend said. “We'll learn from each other a huge amount, actually.” The new model is a shift from how Lenovo has worked in the recent past. Publicis formed a bespoke unit, Lenovo One Media, to service the account. As of now, Assembly has not assembled its own bespoke unit. “In terms of how [Assembly employees] apply their time, we want to make sure that it's a reflection of the need and not fitting a square peg into a round hole,” Townsend said. “The spirit here is that it will continue to change based on need, rather than maybe a fixed position that we then have to fit the problem into.” The incumbent deferred comment to the client, but sources familiar with the matter told Adweek that Performics employees staffed on the account will join other accounts, and layoffs are not expected.