The contract, worth “many tens of millions of pounds per year”, according to HH Global chief marketing officer Tony Massey, encompasses all marketing, corporate and operational print and builds on an existing relationship, with the German firm already using HH Global’s asset management services.
He added: “We will work downstream of their creative agencies around the world to manage their print supply chain, which incorporates technical print advice, print sourcing and print consumption guidance.”
According to Massey, Siemens’ print management was previously managed on an ad-hoc basis by a range of agencies around the world.
“We are seeing a trend at the moment, with some of the bigger organisations, to take a more global view. Obviously they have more leverage if they have all services under one agreement,” he explained.
Under the terms of the contract, HH Global is responsible for tracking Siemens’ carbon usage as part of a strategy by the German firm to become carbon neutral.
Massey said: “We will calculate the CO2 on every single estimate and regularly advise the firm on their footprint to enable them to move to carbon neutral status.”
To fulfill the contract HH Global will expand its global team by around 20 people, Massey said, with new local representatives being appointed to North and South America, the EMEA region and Asia Pacific.
“Siemens covers 50 or 60 key markets so this really is probably the most global contract that we have embarked on. It presents an opportunity and a challenge because the logistics in some markets can be tricky, so it needs serious planning,” Massey said.
“It certainly is an interesting time because we are exporting a concept that was founded in the UK almost 20 years ago, as of course are some of the other players in the market.
“It is definitely a UK success story.”