BBH and Lowe slip as others push upward

SINGAPORE: Eighteen of Singapore's top 20 agencies experienced strong growth last year, including top ranked Dentsu Young & Rubicam, according to gross income figures compiled by the Singapore 4As. Only Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) and Lowe Lintas & Partners (LL&P) claim to be down over the period. BBH fell 10.6 per cent to Sdollars 4.95 million (about USdollars 3 million); while LL&P's gross income nearly halved since the merger between Ammirati Puris Lintas (APL) and Lowe & Partners/Monsoon, which in 1999 recorded gross income of dollars 4.65 million and dollars 4.98 million respectively. In 2000, LL&P had a gross income of dollars 4.86 million. Ian Creasey, president of LL&P Asia Pacific said: "The Lowe Group had a big revenue increase in 1999 resulting from a number of one-off projects from clients such as SingTel." But last year LL&P lost Audi, a regional account handled out of Singapore, to Bates; it resigned Microsoft to overcome a conflict with Sun Microsystems and some clients became inactive such as jewellery retailer Goldheart. "We declined to re-pitch for Audi because we were in the midst of the merger and didn't want to over promise and under deliver", he said. The big winners were: Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA, Leo Burnett, Euro RSCG, Bates, DDB and Batey Ads. Saatchi & Saatchi was up 35.2 per cent to dollars 20.37 million. The agency attributed this growth to existing client Hewlett-Packard, the agency's largest regional account. TBWA was up a massive 114 per cent to dollars 12.13 million due to new business wins including Seagram, Air Emirates and Samsonite and a growth in billings from the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS). In 1999, DBS' ad account was evenly split between TBWA and Saatchi & Saatchi but then the financial institution increased its ad spend - to try and promote itself as a regional financial institution - and TBWA increased its share of the account according to Johan Fourie, CEO of TBWA. Leo Burnett's gross income was up 98 per cent to dollars 13.56 million due to growth in billings from existing clients. "When we restructured after the recession in 1997 we decided that what was going to make us successful was to focus on big brand clients," said Leo Burnett managing director, John Borzi. The agency handled last year's launch campaign for SingTel's youth brand Pod, it won two major projects from Coca-Cola - launching Heaven & Earth and Coca-Cola Light - and it increased its share of the Prudential account. SINGAPORE AD AGENCIES GROSS INCOME 2000 1999 (%) Advertising agencies (Sdollars (Sdollars change million) million) Dentsu Young & Rubicam 25.38 21.26 +19.37 Batey Ads 21.70 17.70 +22.59 Saatchi & Saatchi 20.37 15.07 +35.17 Ogilvy & Mather 19.93 17.06 +16.82 DDB Singapore 16.71 12.14 +37.64 Bates Singapore 15.65 10.33 +51.50 Euro RSCG 15.25 10.13 +50.54 Leo Burnett 13.56 6.86 +97.66 TBWA Singapore 12.13 5.67 +113.9 Publicis Eureka 10.64 7.71 +38.00 Impiric 10.56 9.20 +14.78 McCann-Erickson 10.07 7.65 +31.63 M&C Saatchi 9.06 7.00 +29.43 FCB Singapore 7.82 6.80 +15.00 J. Walter Thompson 7.19 6.25 +15.04 Nexus Asatsu 6.78 4.23 +60.28 Bartle Bogle Hegarty 4.95 5.54 -10.65 BBDO Singapore 4.92 4.13 +19.13 Lowe Lintas & Partners 4.86 9.63* -49.53 Dentsu Singapore 3.67 N/A N/A * Gross income figures for Ammirati Puris Lintas and Lowe & Partners/Monsoon combined.

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