Omnicom poaches Mercedes boss

Omnicom has poached Mercedes-Benz’s marketing chief as the battle continues for the newly merged Daimler-Benz and Chrysler media buying, thought to be worth up to 1bn.

Stuttgart-based Jochen Plaecking, formerly vice-president of marketing communications for Mercedes cars, joined Omnicom’s DDB network in Dsseldorf this month as senior vice-president.

Plaecking was responsible for Mercedes’ global advertising budget, the media buying of which is now under review as DaimlerChrysler looks for cost savings of 800m from its merger this year.

Omnicom subsidiaries Pentacom and GMFO are thought to be pitched against an alliance between the CIA Medianetwork and Bozell Worldwide for the merged company’s business.

Pentacom already handles Chrysler’s media buying in the US, the largest market, while GMFO handles the Mercedes-Benz media in continental Europe. By comparison, BJK&E (jointly owned by CIA and Bozell) handles Mercedes-Benz in the UK, while Bozell handles Chrysler in all markets outside the US.

Plaecking was unavailable for comment in Dsseldorf as Marketing Week went to press.