Batey primes for renewal of fortunes

<P>Batey has seen its share of misfortune over the years. Once viewed as the pride of Asia's homegrown agencies, it is now seen as a cautionary tale for independent agencies that marry a big-name suitor. <BR><BR>Not all of its problems, of course, stem from its acquisition by WPP in 1997. The decision to focus efforts on its large clients at the expense of smaller ones, for example, backfired. Left with just a handful of key accounts, the agency was considerably weakened as these clients started to defect, among them Singapore Tourism Board, OCBC and StarHub.<BR><BR>Which leaves the agency heavily dependent on the one client with which its own fortunes have always been intrinsically linked: Singapore Airlines (SIA). As new Batey CEO Alan Fairnington admits, the account is currently indispensable if Batey is to survive.<BR><BR>"If SIA disappeared today, then Batey would be consumed by another WPP company," says Fairnington. "The whole character of Batey has been built by SIA."<BR><BR>According to some, SIA may review its creative account as soon as early 2007. The airline has remained with Batey for more than 30 years without a tender, an unusually long period of time for a government-linked company. Add in the usual rotation at SIA's marketing department, together with Batey's own upheavals over the past five years, and it becomes clear that Fairnington has a major challenge on his hands. "Increasingly, you are getting young people (at SIA) who have no vested interest in Batey," says a source. "But SIA is incredibly loyal and it would take a lot for them to part."<BR><BR>Matters have not, however, been helped by the recent campaign output, which has hardly made ripples in creative circles. That the major Airbus A380 campaign has again been delayed also denies Batey a big-ticket opportunity to demonstrate the creative prowess of its highly-rated ECD, Pablo Monzon.<BR><BR>All told, Fairnington is likely to find life a little different from his previous role overseeing JWT's regional operations at the turn of the millennium. While he is quick to point out that "the business hasn't changed", he is also aware of the specific challenges that face an agency of Batey's size and complexity. "We still have some extremely good people here, and we just have to motivate and get them driving for business," he says.<BR><BR>Fairnington's pedigree will help, as will his mandate, which appears considerably broader than that of his predecessor, Robert Kay. According to Fairnington, WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell is ready to spend on Batey again. <BR><BR>"Martin Sorrell knows if he gives me the opportunity and money, then I'll get on and do it," says Fairnington. <BR><BR>Indeed, Fairnington has been at pains to mark his regime out as a new day at Batey, taking the politically sensitive step of overtly reopening lines of communication with Ian Batey. Ruling out any possible involvement of the agency's founder in its current incarnation, Fairnington insists he is merely trying to become more attuned to the agency's culture and background.<BR><BR>As he notes, it is a culture that has been able to deliver global work from a Singapore office. Now that Batey's overseas offices have, to all intents and purposes, been folded into other WPP agencies, Fairnington's next step is to deal with the myriad of businesses that house Batey equity, among them MDK Consultants, Batey PR and Profero. <BR><BR>"Batey has minority equity in a lot of different agencies," he says. "That doesn't really help anybody - Batey, WPP or those agencies."</P> <P> </P>