Batey Group's 28-year hold on the prestigious Singapore
International Airlines account has come to an end after a significant
piece of the business was handed to Bates.
Under the new arrangement, Batey will continue to handle the brand part
of the account; however, Bates will be in charge of all consumer
promotion-based advertising, according to sources.
One said that this essentially meant that Bates would "work on campaigns
to promote new routes, services and facilities - anything not related to
the 'Singapore Girl' icon".
It is estimated that the SIA advertising account is now split almost
equally between the two agencies.
SIA began intensively looking for a new agency early last year because
"it didn't want to leave all its eggs in one basket while major changes
were taking place around it", a source said.
Speculation that Mr Ian Batey - who founded Batey Advertising and
created the now world-famous Singapore Girl icon - would soon retire as
head of Batey Group was the impetus behind SIA beginning the search
process.
But although this is not likely to happen any time soon, Mr Batey has
announced that he has relinquished the day-to-day running of the group
to a "second generation" of leaders.
However, he will remain on board at the agency as chairman, overseeing
macro issues and major accounts, such as SIA.
By last May, the airline - consistently described as one of the most
admired brands in the world - settled on Bates to handle its e-booking
account.
The word at the time was that if Bates did well, it would be rewarded
with more of the business.
However, the appointment of Bates as SIA's second agency was not the
only change in recent times.
Last month, it appointed CIA as its global media agency, replacing
previous incumbent Maximize and its network of WPP affiliates
worldwide.
Batey Group is also part of the WPP network; however, it is unlikely
that SIA is deliberately moving away from WPP.
"Bates is part of Cordiant and CIA is a Tempus Group company. It seems
that SIA is looking as far afield as possible to get the best possible
deal," a source said.
