After a long process that was referred to in this interview, Dell has chosen an agency partner, WPP, and together the two companies are going to start an entirely new agency. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Casey Jones, Dell’s VP Marketing, as he’s gone through this process, and I’m certain that this new agency will create all sorts of fascinating new models. Not only that, but it looks like the agency might be located here in the Bay area, which would be great for our media community. Congrats, WPP and Dell!
From PRWeek’s coverage:
The controversial move, which is unprecedented in scope, will bring Dell’s entire external marketing communications function under one profit and loss statement. WPP and Dell will create one agency, comprised of all marketing disciplines and staffed with professionals, at least initially, devoted full time to Dell. The agency and Dell will also co-invest in a significant analytics tool that will map the efficacy of all marketing disciplines against each other and provide measurement for marketing initiatives against business goals.
Very interesting, I think Dell are really making a move to reassert themselves as a more consumer-oriented in the computer industry. I’m excited that there might finally be some well-designed laptops and desktops compatible with Vista. I’m not sure why, but it often seems like Apple is the only computer manufacturer with any design sense.
Now, if only they would remove all the obnoxious pre-loaded software.