FOCUS: AGENCY OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2000 - Media Agency of the Year - CIA stands fast to principles of difference

Category: Media

Agency of the Year

Winner: CIA Asia-Pacific

CIA arrived in Asia in 1993 when it set up its first Asian office in

Hong Kong, and followed this with another branch in Singapore in

1996.

Since its arrival in the region, the network has grown not just in size,

but in stature.

CIA Medianetwork has been named Media Agency of the Year 2000 not simply

because of its many notable achievements in terms of growth and

innovation, but also because it consistently delivers new, exciting

media ideas for its clients.

CIA Medianetwork may not be the biggest media specialist in the region,

but it is certainly one of the smartest, most creative and most

challenging media companies operating in the region.

This year, CIA Asia-Pacific continued its pursuit of setting standards

through challenging and breaking the long-standing rules and conventions

of the industry.

Among its innovations are:

- The development of CIA International, the region's first and only

International Media Management (IMM) business.

- The launch of CIA Medialab, Asia's first dedicated media modelling,

training and protocol development unit.

- The appointment of Asia's first and only creative media director, S.T.

Ang, who won a Certificate of Excellence at last year's Agency of the

Year Awards in the Media Person of the Year Category.

In addition, CIA created one of the first "client-centric" media JVs

with the DaimlerChrysler Media Alliance (DCMA).

The DCMA provides media strategy, planning and buying services to

Mercedes Benz and Chrysler across Asia-Pacific markets and on a global

basis.

CIA attributes its success in part to the fact that it operates as a

media specialist with absolute independence from any advertising agency

parent.

According to regional managing director Mark Austin, this independence

and freedom empowers the network with the opportunity to challenge,

develop and grow its service offer to meet the ever-changing demands

created by the new media environment.

"It is this independence that means that every single client that

appoints CIA does so because they perceive that our media service is

more attractive than that of their ad agencies' media department or

specialist media company," Mr Austin stated.

"Each client appointment is not just a decision to appoint CIA, but also

a decision not to appoint the agencies' media specialist company.

"The energy required of clients to make this choice should not be

under-estimated."

Even more significant than this is the fact that in an increasing number

of cases, clients are electing CIA as their lead communications agency

over and above any traditional ad agency.

Such clients include:

- LVMH,

- Evian,

- Sony and

- DHL.

One of CIA's most recent innovations was the introduction of the 'Agency

of the Future' concept. As Mr Austin has outlined emphatically in past

issues of MEDIA, the service offer of traditional advertising agencies

has remained unchanged for more than half a century.

Meanwhile, the consumer, brand and media environments and their

intra-relationships have changed beyond all recognition.

The need for a radical re-think of the agency service model is,

therefore, overdue.

CIA's Agency of the Future model is based around the connectivity of the

brand, the consumer and the media channels as the first stage of

strategy development.

It is delivered from a core base of 'Insight' and driven by the

network's proprietary process, Communications Channel Planning and

Management.

Within this service model, the creative execution - while still crucial

to achieving successful communication - is treated just as the

description says, as "executional", not as the starting point for the

advertising and communications strategy.

To enable successful delivery of this model, it must be based on

intelligent interpretation of qualitative research.

CIA is in the process of commissioning a research programme in key Asian

markets to establish insight into the relationship between the consumer

and all the media channels. The study will be completed early next

year.

The development of CIA's Insight network for the region saw Japan's

International Creative Marketing join up to provide the foundation on

which CIA is building its vision for the future in the world's second

largest economy.

This year, CIA has experienced new business growth in excess of

USdollars 125 million in Asia-Pacific, representing year-on-year

billings growth of more than 55 per cent.

New clients which signed up include Evian, Tag Heuer, Danone, JP Morgan,

Abbot Laboratories and Metro - LVMH in fact re-appointed CIA for a

record fifth year to manage its 16 brands in 10 Asia-Pacific

markets.

CIA also counts among its senior staff some of the region's most

experienced, respected and creative media specialists.

Stalwarts such as Singapore GM Bertilla Teo, Hong Kong MD Caroline

Foster, CIA Medialab Asia-Pacific head Stephanie Besse, Malaysia MD

Margaret Au Yong and creative media director S.T. Ang have been with the

network for some years - in itself an achievement in this day of

frequent job-hopping.

At a time of unprecedented pressure on talent in the region, CIA has

only lost five staff this year, out of 250 staff operating across 15

business units in seven markets.

The network's ability to retain some of the best talent in the industry

is due in part to its culture, and also in part to the investment made

in training and personal development.

New faces include Ms Elaine Quek as head of client services in

Singapore; Ms Sherrin Loh as client services director (international) in

Hong Kong; Ms Tess Caven as head of CIA International Asia-Pacific; Ms

Julia Singleton as manager of the network's Communications Channel

Planning and Management business; and Ms Cate Sinclair, who manages the

DCMA across the region.

Other achievements and projects:

- The launch of CIA offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Japan,

Sydney and Melbourne.

- The beginning of a movement to start up a new industry body, the

Association of Media Specialists.