Batey drops clients and retools agency

SINGAPORE: Batey Ads has resigned all its accounts except for five so it can focus on core competencies and work on major clients it said are committed to building brand equity. The agency will stop working on 10 accounts, which include the Raffles Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel and the Singapore Zoo. It will retain the Singapore Airlines, Singapore Tourism Board, the OCBC banking group, telecommunications company StarHub and Mercedez-Benz businesses. The agency wants to move beyond just advertising and do the sort of work it already does for its long-standing client Singapore Airlines - from brand strategy development to brand communication management. "This is of most value to clients who have a long-term commitment to building brand equity and want to fulfill that commitment by investing significantly in the brand," said Robert Kay, joint chief executive officer of Batey Ads. "The nature of the business is changing faster than most (advertising) people appreciate - you can't make progress if you're stuck in the past," Kay said. "We're putting a stake in the ground and saying this is what we stand for, this is what we're good at." He said it was a hard decision to make because it meant parting company with 10 clients. "These clients did not require the more comprehensive service we provide or the associated costs." The agency discovered work from its smaller clients was insufficient to keep some account management and creative teams actively employed. The advertisers who were dropped tended to run tactical rather than the long-term brand campaigns that Batey wants to work on. "We'd like to work for smaller clients at the high value end (brand consultancy, strategy development and so on) but we found ourselves dealing in the (creative) execution," explained Nick Marrett, joint chief executive of Batey Ads. Marrett said Singapore had plenty of creative hot shops capable of doing the sort of work which the clients Batey had dropped were in the market for. Resigning the accounts and re-engineering the business has resulted in Batey retrenching 11 per cent of its head count. Kay declined to disclose the actual number of people laid off although industry estimates range between 13 to 20 staff. The response from clients has generally been positive, with the retained clients claiming the move demonstrated Batey's commitment to their business. Clarence Pong, Singapore Airlines worldwide advertising and promotions manager, said: "It is reassuring to know of the enhanced commitment this move will bring to our already long-standing relationship with Batey." Clients no longer with Batey were unwilling to comment publicly except to say that the parting of ways was amicable.

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