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