The award allows Starcom to build on the Singapore brief, which it won in a shootout against MindShare last year. "There was no media pitch when the business turned regional as O2 was comfortable and happy with the team here," said Starcom's director, brand strategy, Hueichern Lee. "This is an expansion of our role as O2 grows."
The account is expected to bill in excess of US$2 million. O2's product portfolio includes PDA-phones and smart phones.
Starcom will manage its regional strategy, planning and buying media for brand and product campaigns out of the Singapore regional headquarters, working with local Starcom offices for in-market buys. The assignment covers Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore.
Lee said: "In addition to providing the 'regular' media planning and buying services, our scope of service also includes regional creative management (RCM). This is essentially a creative service, which we offer to pan-regional clients such as Sun Microsystems and Oracle."
RCM involves managing the localisation process for creative to ensure consistency in strategy and messaging.
BT subsidiary O2 awards regional brief to Starcom
British Telecom subsidiary O2 has handed its regional media brief to Starcom, which secured the expanded remit without a pitch.
