Interpublic buyout threatens to queer the Daewoo ad pitch; Daewoo is confident that it will find a suitable agency, as Camilla Palmer reports. (Live Issue/Daewoo).(Daewoo and Vauxhall search for agencies)(Brief Article)

Last week might not have been the ideal time for Nigel Unwin, the marketing services manager of Daewoo, to review the Korean car manufacturer's 10 million [pounds sterling] advertising account.

Two weeks ago, Vauxhall announced it was looking for a non-network second agency to work alongside Lowe on its 60 million [pounds sterling] UK account. The number of agencies which could handle any car client without conflict is small and Daewoo, as the second manufacturer to announce its intentions this month, could find itself struggling with an even smaller choice for its pitchlist should shops opt to tilt at Vauxhall instead.

Compounding the problem is the intended sale of a majority stake of Daewoo to Vauxhall's parent company, General Motors, after the bankruptcy of its parent, Daewoo Group, in November 2000. The deal could have ramifications for a Daewoo agency since GM's advertising is consolidated into the Interpublic group. The sale is expected to conclude in May.

Unwin denies that any of this will affect his pitch process. Working with ISBA, he intends to draw up a shortlist of three agencies and appoint one before DFGW's six-month notice period concludes in September. DFGW has declined to repitch, but its chief executive, Michael Finn, has said the agency is happy to continue working on the account if Unwin is unimpressed with the agencies he shortlists.

Unwin claims he is unfettered by the constraints of potential consolidation. "We're expecting Daewoo's marketing and advertising to remain independent as a result of its acquisition by GM," he says. "It is not a given that Interpublic networks will take the business."

However, some sources claim that the threat of Daewoo's advertising being pooled into Interpublic will be enough to dissuade the kind of small, independent agencies Unwin wants to pitch for the business. "I think people will be thinking hard about whether to get involved with Daewoo at such a sensitive time," the head of one such agency says. "They will think about the future of the company from a long-term point of view."

Others claim that Interpublic's FCB network would be a sensible choice for ...