Bates HK wins Coke summer promotion biz

Bates Hong Kong has snatched the multi-million dollar Coca-Cola summer promotion campaign from D'Arcy in a pitch that was called after Coke said the incumbent agency did not impress. Coke Hong Kong and Macau country manager Scott Price said: "We chose Bates based upon a very good creative concept as well as an overall well thought-out campaign proposal. I think it's a brilliant, brilliant programme. I'm very impressed with them." The account went up for pitch after a number of senior D'Arcy staff, who handled the Coke business, left the agency over a one-month period (see MEDIA, March 3. D'Arcy has since made a number of significant new hires to fill the gaps (see also page 26 this issue). D'Arcy's new Greater China chairman, Jimmy Lam, said the new people will give the agency new creative firepower. Other agencies which pitched for the account but came away unsuccessful were McCann-Erickson and Leo Burnett. The pitch focused on both creative and strategic recommendations for Coke's summer promotion. The win for Bates follows the agency strengthening its creative and strategic structure through the recent appointments of Mr Aris Theophilakis as regional creative director and Ms Ayesha Walawalker as regional director of strategic planning. The agency has also won a number of new accounts around Asia-Pacific worth some US$12 million, not including the Coke account. They included 2cube.com, a stock-trading joint venture between Jardine Fleming and PCCW HKT, chinaren.com and Avon Thailand. However, it hasn't all been smooth sailing for Bates. Just recently, the agency resigned the Bossini account after just one month on the job. The agency took the account from Cove-Ito with a great idea, an agency source said, but problems began in the execution. The source said: "Bossini's positioning is 'We care about the world' but what does that mean (for a fashion brand)." Bossini has since rehired Cove-Ito. 1999 China 4As Agency Ranking (All figures in HKdollars millions) 1999 1999 1998 YOY 1998 Rank Name of Agency Billings Billings % change Rank 1 Saatchi & Saatchi Great Wall 1,060.70 1,038.50 2.1% 1 2 Ogilvy & Mather China 847.93 849.54 -0.2% 2 3 J. Walter Thompson China 732.94 577.90 26.8% 5 4 Leo Burnett - China 721.86 780.81 -7.5% 3 5 Bates China 700.24 662.23 5.7% 4 6 Grey China 565.06 514.37 9.9% 6 7 Euro RSCG 402.01 393.90 2.1% 8 8 D'Arcy 318.02 362.68 -12.3% 7 9 DDB China 255.48 206.43 23.8% 10 10 *FCB China 202.75 223.20** -9.2% 9 11 BBDO/CNUAC 115.80 149.89 -22.7% 11 TOTAL 5,922.79 5,759.45 2.8% * FCB and Bozell merged in September 1999 reported jointly as FCB China. ** FCB and Bozell billings combined for comparison purposes.

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