Dell and international ad giant WPP broke new ground when they announced they were spending $4.5 billion to create a single agency to handle Dell's worldwide marketing services last year. But the entity that became Enfatico has been met with criticism for failing to create much substantial content for the computer giant since the announcement was made last December.
Today Enfatico CEO Torrence Boone joined Dell’s Bob Pearson during the ANA Agency/Client Forum to discuss exactly what Enfatico has been working on since its creation.
Enfatico has been challenged with bringing all of
Dell's advertising, marketing and public relations, which had been spread across over 800
agencies worldwide, under one umbrella, a task that Boone says should be expected to take more than just a few months.
Much of the criticism has stemmed from the fact that Dell is Enfatico's sole client, and — before last month — there was little public evidence to show for all of Dell's investment.
To date, Enfatico largest contribution has been Dell's Digital Nomads campaign to target mobile workers, which launched toward the end of August. In the next few weeks, the company will launch a brand campaign with the tagline “Take your own path.” The campaign features Indian “heroes” — business leaders, entrepreneurs, and iconic Indian figures using Dell products. Depending on the response, Enfatico will scale the project for more markets.
But Boone isn't concentrating on production volume right now. “It’s not just the number of ads produced," he says. "To take on the work of 850 plus agencies is a gargantuan task. What we’re accomplishing here has been fantastic."
Boone wants to get the global enterprise in order before focusing on output: "We're making sure that the preexisting businesses work, and first we want to consolidate all the different groups. We’re bringing it all under one umbrella and trying to evolve that work and ramp up to take on more work.”
As for Enfatico's critics, the company's CEO thinks some of the response is only natural for the largest global start-up in history: “We’re challenging the traditional agency model. When a client drops 869 agencies, there are going to be disgruntled people in the business."
But in terms of answering criticism, Enfatico is starting to focus on becoming more upfront about what is happening within the business, and will be launching a blog to discuss their current projects in the coming weeks.
As for the benefits of working with only one client, Boone says, “When you’re not constantly competing for business, you can be far more candid. That allows us to get to better decisions quicker.”
He also thinks that Enfatico's work for Dell will serve as a template for future clients:
