10 WORST-KEPT SECRETS

1 The Malaysia Airlines pitch Media predicted this one back in February, only to be met with bristling denials from Leo Burnett. Picture our lack of surprise, then, when MAS decided to 'park' the business with Publicis and review its agencies in September. Eventually, Ogilvy and MindShare snared the account but - by then - we had almost lost interest.

2 BBDO's less-than-stellar presentation to Motorola Why did Omnicom pull TBWA into the regional Motorola pitch with only a week to prepare? Wasn't it supposed to be a shoo-in for Motorola's globally-aligned agency, BBDO?

3Batey to get new home Bates? Grey? Y&R? Everyone's favourite game of 'guess the suitor' ended with Batey being placed in the care of JWT.

4Michael Maedel moves to Asia Perhaps JWT's global HR department could use some extra hands. After all, it appears that the international president  only knew about his overseas relocation after Media did. Why else would he tell us in late July that the 'rumour' about his relocation was "hugely exaggerated"?

5 Chris Jaques resigns After rumours began in Cannes, the forthcoming departure of the Y&R Asia chief rapidly became an open secret, leading to ever more speculative forecasts as to his next port of call. The eventual outcome however surprised everyone - Y&R North America.
6BlueFocus up for sale And has been for the last eight months, though you'd never get it confirmed from the horse's mouth. So if you're not one of the five global networks bidding for the Chinese shop, you might still be able to outbid the latest caller, Huntsworth.

7 SingTel to enter pay-TV In September 2005, CEO Lee Hsien Yang let slip SingTel's pay-TV ambitions. And until the official announcement was made a year later, the telco's corp comms fielded the same daily query: when?

8Torie wants out of China While some (Universal McCann) may have wished Torie Henderson's dissatisfaction with her Shanghai posting was less of an open secret, others (OMD) may think otherwise. 

9BBH opens in Shanghai Last month's heady coverage of BBH entering China rang a bell with Media. Here's why: the news first ran in April. Last year.

10 Steve Garton's promotion Imagine keeping a juicy secret - like a new global position for Synovate's regional director - for eight long months. A challenge indeed for the research company, which struggled to keep the news under wraps until a successor was found.