Looking at Dell & WPP’s “DaVinci”

(WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell)

One of the biggest announcements for PR in 2007 was the news that Dell and holding company WPP Group would be forming a “super agency,” code word, DaVinci, to handle all PR, marketing and ad intiatives.

Former Young & Rubicam CMO Mitch Caplan was hired to serve as acting CEO back in December, and the agency is shooting to be up and running by March 1st, including a whopping 1,000 employees.

PR Week’s Erica Iacono and Keith O’Brien today take an in depth review of the project, roughly one month after it was first announced:

There is no guarantee that Da Vinci – or Dell, for that matter – will be successful. The strategy mapped ahead is audacious, and that has everything to do with Dell’s Howard Beal moment, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore,” regarding the previous profusion of agencies under its P&L statement. And it cannot be understated how much of its time, energy, and effort that Dell is placing in this agency structure. So, a failure to Da Vinci will be seen as a failure to Dell.

However, should Da Vinci flounder or fall apart, Dell will still manufacture and sell computer services and software. But the cost is much greater to WPP. Without its raison d’etre, Da Vinci would cease to make sense. And WPP would be forced to cut its losses, shut everything down, and let go of a lot of talented professionals.

PRNewser is not yet placing bets on this one. However, we are soliciting your thoughts and comments.

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