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.
