Bates HK canned as Coke changes strategic direction

Just four months after winning the Coca-Cola summer promotion account, Bates has been ditched by the soft drinks giant. The shock move follows a new strategic direction by Coca-Cola to re-align its Hong Kong business into two divisions - assigning two sole agencies to handle the creative and strategic direction of its carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks brands respectively. Coca-Cola China country manager for Hong Kong and Macau Scott Price told MEDIA the move was "economically driven", and had been prompted by "a need to gather efficiencies in spend and investment". "We don't want our brands fighting each other in the stores and it was difficult to maintain two or three agencies on all our brands (and) come up with solid strategic portfolios," he added. After a tumultuous run earlier in the year for former agency of record D'Arcy in the wake of a mass exodus of creative staffers on the Coca-Cola account (MEDIA, March 3); the agency appears to have finally lost out. Nevertheless D'Arcy - which handled Coke, Bonaqua, Fanta and Nestea - was invited to re-pitch for the carbonated soft drinks business alongside fellow agencies of record McCann-Erickson and Leo Burnett. Mr Price cited McCann-Erickson Guangming's "mind-blowing creative" bolstered by its "strategic ability and consumer insight" as the decisive factors which clinched the deal. Meanwhile, on the non-carbonated soft drinks side, both Bates and Grey were invited to pitch, with Grey winning the business, which includes brands Bonaqua, Nescafe, Sunfill and the Schweppes brand acquired by Coca-Cola at the tail end of 1999. Grey Hong Kong MD Andrew Lee said that the business had been won on the basis of "client strategic points, good creative and a tight-knit team spirit". However, in the midst of Coca-Cola's increasingly localised brand strategy, Mr Price lamented the fact that the long-awaited launch of the Coca-Cola Hong Kong website had been delayed until the first quarter of 2001. "I've had some (website) ideas given to me and I think they're all garbage, so I've pushed back the launch of a proper website that I think is cool, teen-focused, interactive and has a proper balance of access versus content," he added. While Mr Price recognised that Bates had done "a great job on the summer promotion" - including its work on the six-week Gig Fun tactical promotional website (www.2000gigfun.com) with the agency's promotional arm 141; Bates appears to have been vying for a longer term hold on Coca-Cola's digital strategy. "When we first pitched for this account for the summer promotion, our view was not only for the short term but the long term as well," said Bates Hong Kong business director Janet Shuen. In the wake of D'Arcy's earlier proposal for the Hong Kong website launch, Bates had also "proposed ideas but they (Coca-Cola) put the project on hold", Ms Shuen said.

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