Irvine Office Not in on Deal; Reports Have Jag Switching Agencies
Ford Motor Co. recently tapped Young & Rubicam Inc. to handle a project for its Jaguar North America brand, but those plans do not include the ad shop’s Irvine office, the agency-of-record for Ford’s Lincoln Mercury brands.
Y & R; plans to begin production on the new undisclosed project,its first for Jaguar,in the next four to six weeks, with a launch shortly after, said Simon Sproule, vice president of public affairs at Jaguar North America.
“We’re not disclosing any details on the project at this stage,” said Sproule, adding that Young & Rubicam’s global resources were tapped for the assignment, but the Irvine office is not involved.
The announcement comes on the heels of industry talk that Jaguar plans to switch advertising agencies and move its entire global account to Young & Rubicam, as reported recently in Advertising Age. But Sproule called the report “speculation” and said, “We haven’t announced any changes.”
Jaguar’s global advertising is held by Y & R; siblings,and rivals,Ogilvy & Mather in New York and J. Walter Thompson Co. in London, which handle the account under a joint venture called Global Communications Group. All three agencies are under the WPP Group, which acquired Young & Rubicam last year.
A Jaguar switch to Y & R; was said by industry experts to be a logical possibility. In June, Ford plans to move the North American bases of Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo to its new Premier Automotive Group facility next to Y & R;’s Irvine office. Lincoln, which is also part of the group, and Mercury already are based there.
Young & Rubicam already handles Land Rover’s global account (Austin, Texas-based GSD & M; is Land Rover North America’s agency of record). The work, however, does not include the Irvine office, which declined comment on the new Jaguar assignment and speculation that Young & Rubicam will get Jaguar’s global account.
Sproule also was quick to point out that Jaguar’s soon-to-be-neighbor status with Y & R; in Irvine does not mean that it would consider changing agencies.
“It’s really not a location-driven (decision). It’s more about what’s right for the business,” Sproule said. “At this stage we have Y & R; working on a specific program. As to future moves, we’ll wait and see.”
In the meantime, Y & R;’s Irvine operation plans to expand into a 32,000-square-foot office next to its current 53,000-square-foot space this week. The move is meant to accommodate the local operation’s growing head count, which has gone from about 40 to 400 since it opened about two years ago.
The OC shop, which reported annual capitalized billings of about $650 million, has been on a growth curve since following Lincoln Mercury to the county. Most recently it added two big Sony Electronics Inc. accounts and a chunk of business from Mattel Inc. to its local client roster. n
