Media: All about ... Global new-business pitches.(dealings of Johnson & Johnson)

Cost savings are often what clinches big international deals.

The Johnson & Johnson pitch is shaping up to be an interesting one. With dollars 3 billion of billings at stake, Interpublic agencies hold much of the business, and really can't afford another big account loss. Ambitious timescale targets have been set and the client wants to make an appointment by the end of June.

And maybe this isn't just to have the process concluded before the summer vacation season kicks off in the US. Apparently, J&J has had the management consultancy McKinsey all over its business since the dollars 16.6 billion acquisition of Pfizer's consumer business last year. J&J is under pressure to deliver dollars 600 million cost savings from the deal and deliver them quickly. Media has been identified as a key area of focus.

The process hasn't been a smooth one for everyone, though. Last week, WPP's MindShare pulled out of the process, leaving IPG's Initiative and Universal McCann to compete against Omnicom's OMD for the business. Conflict may have played a big role in this (what with MindShare being a big Unilever agency and sister network MediaCom holding much of the Procter & Gamble business). However, WPP sources suggest MindShare was also concerned with the emphasis on cost savings and that driving efficiencies would lead to networks competing to win the business on a margin of next to nothing.

This seems to be a recurring theme: that clients are driven simply by cost and not necessarily looking for the best media thinking. Nick Emery, the chief strategy officer at Group M, wrote recently in an article in Campaign: 'The old media model of buying cheap space for clients who then fire you after three years for someone else's cheap space is not sustainable.'

Yet there is some evidence that the more progressive clients are not just running global new-business pitches to hit savings targets.

1. At least two other global reviews are up and running. Compared with J&J, however, Visa and Estee Lauder are relative minnows in terms of media spend. Visa, which spends around dollars 400 million, is exploring the benefits of consolidation. Its account is currently split between OMD - for North America and Asia - and WPP's Mediaedge:cia for Europe. Estee Lauder has apparently similar motives - its media arrangements are run on a market-by-market basis and one possibility is a move of the dollars 140 million business into a global network.