Chunghwa names media shops

Taiwan telco Chunghwa has awarded its US$25 million media brief to a Carat/CS Innovations Marketing team, despite the fact that CS Innovations, an incumbent, was not asked to pitch during the initial stages. <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 failed to meet the pitch requirements. <BR><BR> "My guess is (Carat) believed CS has extremely good relationships with Chunghwa's marketing department, and knows exactly how Chunghwa's media is being planned and bought," a source said.