Carat/CS beat rivals for Chunghwa brief

Chunghwa Telecom has awarded its US$25 million media brief to a Carat/CS Innovations Marketing team, despite the fact that incumbent CS Innovations was not asked to pitch during the initial review stage.<BR><BR>According to sources involved in the pitch, Carat and CS Innovations held off challenges from Universal McCann, MEC, MediaCom and Initiative to snatch the account. CS Innovations was one of the previous media agency incumbents - along with BBDO-owned media house Mint - but sources claimed it was excluded from the initial process because its billings over the last three years did not meet the pitch requirements. "My guess is that (Carat) believed CS had an extremely good relationship with Chunghwa's marketing team, and knows exactly how Chunghwa's media is  planned and bought," said a source. "This would be an advantage for Carat once it takes over the account."