Leo Burnett Singapore has been dealt a blow after losing a blue
chip account it has handled for 27 years.
Following a pitch, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) awarded its
meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) business to
BBDO Singapore.
However, Burnett retained the design portion of the account.
"This year and last year, we won 12 creative awards for STB, so we
didn't feel comfortable about changing the strategic and creative
direction," a senior Burnett source told MEDIA.
BBDO Singapore MD Arto Hampartsoumian said, "STB has now tasked us with
formulating a global campaign to promote Singapore as a premium location
for organising conferences."
The MICE account, said to be worth between S$3 million and
S$6 million, also has a new media agency in the form of BBDO's
media dependent OMD.
It was previously handled by Starcom.
The other parts of the STB business - the long haul and short haul
accounts, worth a total of S$25 million, to promote international
tourism to the Lion City - remains with Batey Ads.
