creativity with a business purpose

via Dell

Dell is announcing today that it will partner with WPP, who will join Dell to create a new global integrated marketing and communications agency.

Together with the WPP agency, Dell is creating a new marketing model designed to further propel Dell’s growth. We’ve been calling this “Project DaVinci” because we’ve been looking for the combination of artist and scientist – an agency that has both the creative horsepower and ability to measure the business impact of their work.

The agency will be charged with building shareholder value via programs that are centered on “creativity with a business purpose”. We believe this is the first time a global client and agency have come together to redefine the “agency” on such a scale.

The process started with Vice President of Global Marketing, Casey Jones, joining Dell eight months ago and discovering that the company was working with more than 800 agencies worldwide. Project Da Vinci was soon started and, as Casey has often said, “Instead of dating 800 agencies, we are creating a partnership with one firm. We want our partner to spend 100% of their time thinking about our customers, rather than how they will get the next assignment.”

We’ve made several observations together during the agency review process that will guide our effort going forward. Here are a few as well as additional commentary from Casey, who is our leader of Da Vinci.