Saatchi & Saatchi scoops global Siemens creative business

Siemens, the Munich-based industrial manufacturing giant, has appointed Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi to its global advertising account following a pitch against undisclosed rivals, which was handled by The Observatory.

The business, which covers both corporate branding and the company’s business units across all major markets, will be led by Saatchi & Saatchi London and Saatchi & Saatchi Germany, both of which worked on the pitch.

Siemens operates across several industries, including energy, healthcare and industrial automation.

A Siemens spokesman told Campaign that since the company's strategic realignment in late 2020: "We have also been working continuously on the further development of our global B2B brand presence.

"This has already included campaigns such as 'Transform the everyday' for the launch of the new Siemens AG.

"Transform the everyday" was created in-house and ran in key markets. 

Siemens' last major global brand campaign was 2016’s “Ingenuity for life”, created by WPP’s Ogilvy New York. Campaign has contacted Ogilvy to establish whether Siemens was still a client, and whether the agency was involved in the pitch, but it had not responded at the time of publication.

Publicis Groupe seems to have benefitted from its relationship with Khanh Huynh-Kürzinger, head of brand and senior vice-president at Siemens, who joined last September from home appliance company BSH. Originally a joint venture between Siemens and Bosch, BSH is now fully owned by Bosch but continues to sell goods under both names. Saatchi & Saatchi was appointed by BSH in 2018 to the global ad account of Siemens Home Appliances.