DY&R cuts Nike ties after Patel resigns as chief

SINGAPORE: Nike Southeast Asia general manager Satyen Patel has

left the sports apparel company amid a management shake-up, which has

sparked an agency review.

Incumbent Dentsu Young & Rubicam, which held the brief for the past four

years, will not re-pitch. It said the account was small because it

mainly involved adapting overseas work created by Nike's US agency,

Wieden & Kennedy (W&K). DY&R said it had tried to increase the amount of

local creative work, but to no avail.

It also discovered that following the shake-up, Katherine Ng, Nike

Southeast Asia marketing director, had started talking to other agencies

- Batey Ads, Ogilvy & Mather and M&C Saatchi -about handling the

account.

The brief covers advertising for Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei,

India, Philippines, Pakistan and Thailand. "We are looking at our

options and will be appointing a new agency in the near future," said

Ng, adding that W&K will have no input in the decision. Nike has yet to

name a new GM.