Lenovo conducts PR review in Singapore as Text100 resigns account after 12 years
Computer giant Lenovo is on the hunt for a new PR agency in Singapore with Text100 resigning the local account after a 12-year association, it has emerged.
Lenovo confirmed it is also conducting a review of its PR duties in India – where Text100 also represents Lenovo – and China.
Text100 told Mumbrella it was the “right time” to part ways with Lenovo in Singapore but said it will work with the company until the end of September to help the transition to a new agency.
The PR agency previously held the wider Asia Pacific account for Lenovo but lost out to WE Communications following a multi-agency pitch last year.
A Text100 spokesperson told Mumbrella: “Text100 is currently working with Lenovo Singapore. However, as we stopped managing the Lenovo APAC PR remit out of Singapore last year, and with a slew of client wins in Singapore in 2018, we felt that this was the right time to initiate the transition of Lenovo’s Singapore PR duties to another agency.
“We informed the client about this at the end of June, and they understood our decision. Our relationships with the Lenovo team in Singapore remain strong and we are helping them with the transition until the end of September.”
Text100 said it will continue to work with Lenovo in Malaysia and India, notwithstanding the review currently underway in the latter.
“Lenovo is conducting a competitive PR review and Text100 is participating in the process,” the spokesperson said.
In China, AdWeek reported that Lenovo is looking for agency support to help shore up a reputation that has taken a hit in recent times. It was accused of failing to back Chinese telecom company Huawei in setting standards for 5G mobile technology.
It also dropped out of the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index last month after losing almost 60% of its share price since 2013.
Lenovo currently works with BlueFocus in China, and while the firm will retain the agency, Lenovo is understood to want a global agency with strong Chinese credentials to handle its corporate reputation, thought leadership and crisis management.
Lenovo confirmed in a statement to Mumbrella it was reviewing RR duties in China, Singapore and India.
Chief communications officer, Torod Neptune said: “As a global company in a fast-paced industry we conduct ongoing evaluations of our key agency partners to ensure they align with our needs for having access to best-in-breed creative and integrated communications partners.”
Addressing the review in China specifically, Neptune added: “We are currently reviewing our needs in China to ensure we can drive the Lenovo corporate reputation and a dynamic thought leadership program that reinforces our ‘One Lenovo’ brand story and global positioning.
“The current plan is for this brief to sit outside the current agency partners we have in China who continue to support us across our product work and for select campaigns.”
The reviews are the latest in a series of agency developments at Lenovo.
Publicis Media was last week appointed to handle its global media strategy, planning and buying with the media agency group set to create a bespoke client unit – Lenovo One Media – to service the account across 28 markets in the Americas, EMEA and APAC.
Meanwhile, Publicis-owned Arcade was last month handed the creative account for Lenovo, following a four-way competitive pitch.
Steve Jones is regular contributor to Mumbrella in Australia and Asia having held the title of chief reporter for several years. He is a journalist with more than 30 years experience and has worked for a number of consumer and trade titles in the UK and Australia
Have your say