Agencies vie for new Telekom Malaysia brief

<P>Telekom Malaysia (TM) has initiated a new tender to enlarge its creative panel, and better deal with the massive scale of its advertising operations.</P> <P>According to assistant GM of brand advertising and promotions for TM Group's marketing division Zuraida Mohamad, the telco giant has invited six agencies - Spencer Azizul, Pesaka Grey, Dentsu, Friends, Lowe and Bloomingdale - to present corporate image proposals, with a view to appointing two agencies to its roster. At present, TM works with TBWA, Astana and Interface at the group level. </P> <P>"The TM group has many subsidiaries," said Mohamad. "We need enough agencies to handle our business."<BR>While Lowe has already withdrawn, it is believed that the remaining five contenders will submit proposals by the third week of July.  The pitch brief centres on a corporate image assignment, although Mohamad pointed out that this could be for evaluation purposes only. </P> <P>"The brief is for the tender, but that's not necessarily the area we are going to execute," said Mohamad. "It's to gauge the capabilities of the agencies in strategic planning and creative development."</P> <P>Mohamad pointed to the many businesses that exist under the TM group, noting that one of the key units which requires agency support is the TMNet internet business. Other TM units include its core fixed line services, along with various B2B, B2C and data offerings.</P> <P>The pitch follows the start of TM's RM 9 million (US$2.5 million) rebranding programme in mid-2005, when it debuted a new logo, tagline and campaign, developed by TBWA (Media, 6 May 2005). The 2003 pitch that preceded the initial rebranding campaign drew the industry's ire after TM invited close to 30 agencies to compete for the assignment, hastening the rollout of the Malaysian 4As' pitch fee system this year.</P> <P>Observers have noted that TM's decision to invite only six agencies this time, and pay the pitch fee, represented a triumph for industry best practice. Said a source: "It has new management, and this is a much more sensible approach." The review will not affect the creative panel for Celcom, TM's mobile business, which counts M&C Saatchi, JWT and Interface among its agency suppliers.</P> <P> </P>