China Mobile retained Ogilvy for youth brand M-Zone, while Grey Global Group was handed corporate branding and high-end service GoTone, and Lowe was assigned mass brand Shezhouxing and China Mobile's currently unbranded mobile internet service.
A sixth pitch, to support China Mobile's Olympic sponsorship and hotly contested by local agencies, is thought to have been handed to a local consultancy.
The projects are believed to be awarded on a one-year retainer basis. It is not clear what triggered the review, though agencies that took part in the pitches speculated that the mobile operator wanted agencies to focus resources on specific areas of the business in the run-up to the Olympic Games, of which China Mobile is a sponsor, and the anticipated launch of 3G services. "This is a critical moment for them," one of the winning agencies said.
China Mobile was ranked the fourth most valuable brand in the world in a recent study by Millward Brown, behind Microsoft, GE and Coca-Cola. Additional reporting by Christy Liu
