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.

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