FOCUS: 2000 REVIEW: Passing of 2000 brings sigh of relief

<p>2000. The most heavily written about and (incorrectly) predicted </p><p>year of all time. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But after the year has ended, we can breathe a sigh of relief, for </p><p>instead of computer breakdowns, we got Playstation 2. Instead of a </p><p>global slowdown, we got significant GDP growth. And instead of an </p><p>ordinary year, we at Leo Burnett had an outstanding one. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In true end of year fashion, here are my top 10 highlights: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>1. Agency of the Year in Sydney: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Rob Clarke, Nick Souter and their team have stormed ahead in the last </p><p>three years. This is a fitting culmination of that effort. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>2. Agency of the Year in Jakarta: For the second year running. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Berndt Soderbom and his team also walked off with most of the shiny </p><p>stuff at the awards shows. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>3. Gold in Hong Kong: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>At the Hong Kong 4As, Eddie Booth evidenced the great progress in our </p><p>Hong Kong creative by winning more golds than any other agency. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>4. Winning in Bangkok: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Bhanu Inkawat continues the quality work that made Burnett Bangkok </p><p>Thailand's agency of the 1990s. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>5. Golden Kancil in Kuala Lumpur: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Another year, another top award for Yasmin Ahmad in Kuala Lumpur. The </p><p>rest of the creative department didn't do badly either, pulling in more </p><p>awards than any other, the same night. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>6. A raft of new clients regionwide: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Those who chose us over all others in 2000 include Prudential, Wrigley, </p><p>Coca Cola, Chung Hwa and many more. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>7. Talented leadership taking the reins in our offices: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Charles Cadell in Malaysia, Doug Pearce in Shanghai, Rahul Kansal in </p><p>Delhi and Jennifer Jan in Taipei. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>8. Competency development: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Our secret weapon, human resources director Nadia Pan, has gone a long </p><p>way towards creating lasting skill sets in the agency business this year </p><p>with this programme. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>9. The birth of Beacon: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Last October, we opened the doors of a new agency in Japan which </p><p>combined the strengths of Leo Burnett, D'Arcy and a division of Dentsu, </p><p>creating a USdollars 400 million agency in the world's second largest </p><p>advertising market after the United States. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>10. Moving to Asia/Pacific: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Definitely the best place to be right now. (The last six months have </p><p>proven this to me). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Would we have predicted it? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Anyone who is familiar with the political and economic elements of the </p><p>Asia-Pacific region would be smart enough not to forecast an outstanding </p><p>year before it happens. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>