EXCLUSIVE: Nestlé’s newly installed marketing boss David Morgan has expressed a desire to “reshape and restructure” the company’s sizeable agency roster, in a move that would spell a radical step change for the business.
While he would not be drawn on whether agencies would be dropped or appointed, he said the current model was not ideal because there was too much “duplication of effort”. The company’s agency roster includes ZenithOptimedia, Ogilvy, Publicis Mojo, JWT, Banjo, Naked and a range of digital boutiques.
“There is a frustration in the agency world that there’s not a clear definition of their roles and there’s a frustration in the client world there is too much duplication of effort,” Morgan said. “It’s taking too long to come up with ideas and too long to get to market because there is too much mud to run through right now.”
The model he believed Nestlé would be “well advised to consider” is that of a “one-stop shop”, where the best talent from the company's different rostered agencies could come together to form a single unit working on the Nestlé business. Morgan said there were “too many people” currently involved in the process, and that he wanted to work with the “right people”, rather than with “agency badges”.
“[In terms of timing], when we get the right people we’ll do it. I say that with a smile. At the moment, our businesses are strong and our agency relationships are strong. [But] is there an opportunity to step change us? Yes, there is,” he said.
“There’s an attitudinal difference [with the ‘one-stop shop’ model]. When you have a range of agency partners you draw on the expertise from one agency [for each project], you lock yourself into that. You may have the best creative person from that agency, but you may not have the strongest planning person. Vice versa might be true of other agencies.”
Nestlé is currently experiencing an internal restructure, with the marketing and corporate communications teams merging under the leadership of Morgan. He said an external restructure could follow the internal one.
Morgan joined Nestlé at the beginning of the year as director of corporate communications and marketing services, replacing marketing boss Ian Alwill and director of corporate affairs Peter Kelly.
This article first appeared in the 5 April 2012 edition of
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