Ada Wong, the agency’s MD, said: "In January the client informed us that they had requested its existing agency and ourselves to provide media cost proposals."
She added that Wal-Mart’s business developments have expanded progressively to tier 2 and 3 cities where the media strategies are more complicated with its competitors like Carrefour also expanding beyond big cities in China.
However, Mindshare China stated that it has had a business relationship with Walmart since 2009 where it took care of some of its buying activities. It said the agency was not involved in the client's media planning activities. "Our contract with Wal-Mart ended last year and we haven't actively sought to renew it. and did not receive a pitch request from Wal-Mart," a spokesperson for the agency stated.
The Wal-Mart account win strengthen ZenithOptimedia Guangzhou office’s client profile, which also holds the multimedia strategy communication company TCL and Wanglaojiang carton accounts.