WPP's Schematic Nabs Mitsubishi Digital Business

Mistubishi named The WPP Group's Schematic as its digital agency of record. The company also named Omnicom's 180/LA as its lead creative agency and independent Trivalle Communications as its public relations firm.

The appointments follow a six-month search. Traffic, an independent shop in El Segundo, Calif., previously handled ad duties for the car maker.

Schematic, a Los Angeles-based shop acquired by WPP in 2007, will handle a wide range of digital chores for Mitsubishi, including oversight of its Web site, social networking programs, content creation, and display and search advertising.

Just how much any of the agencies will drive individual parts of Mitsubishi's strategy remains to be seen, however. The company took pains to point out in a press release that it had created a "non-traditional partner agency structure" in which the client would take the strategic lead and direct the agencies to work as a unit.

Along with the agency appointments, Mitsubishi named Gregory Adams, a veteran of Ford, Nissan and DaimlerChrysler in the Asia Pacific region, as VP of marketing and product strategy.

Other Schematic clients include Google, Microsoft and Dell. It has additional offices in New York, Austin, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Costa Rica and London.