Initiative set to win £6.5m Daewoo brief

Initiative is poised to scoop Daewoo’s £6.5m media buying and planning account, following the Korean car marque’s acquisition by General Motors (GM). The business was previously held by Mediaedge:CIA.

GM recently surprised the advertising industry by reappointing DFGW as the lead creative agency for Daewoo’s £40m European business, in partnership with Publicis-owned European network Buhler & Partners (MW last week). DFGW started working for Daewoo in 1994, a year before the marque’s UK launch, and created the famous “That’ll be the Daewoo” strapline. The agency opted not to repitch when Daewoo began a review in March (MW March 28). However, the review was abandoned after GM agreed to buy Daewoo’s Korean parent company, which was declared bankrupt last year.

A second creative review began two months ago, and GM’s new European marketing director, Janet Ekhof, invited Interpublic networks McCann-Erickson and FCB, plus DFGW and Buhler & Partners, to pitch for the European account.

GM completed its acquisition of Daewoo only two weeks ago.

Daewoo has been best-known for its unusual approach to car marketing – instead of operating through a dealer network, it only sold its cars through company-owned showrooms, using the money which would otherwise have gone to dealers to cut prices and offer longer warranties.