After coming close for three years in a row, Saatchi & Saatchi has
finally been named Agency of the Year.
The agency beat out strong competition from Ogilvy & Mather, Leo
Burnett, Bates and BBDO through a combination of major account wins and
strong, accountable creative work across the region.
In addition, it has continued to consistently win 'Best of Show' at the
big award shows in Asia-Pacific, including MEDIA's annual Asian
Advertising Awards, even without its creative light David Droga, who
left last year for Saatchis London.
Some of the major accounts Saatchis picked up this year included
Hutchison-Priceline (regional), DBS Bank (regional), PLDT (the
Philippines) and NetEase (China).
Some might argue that the agency's loss of the regional Visa account -
variously estimated at being worth between USdollars 20 million and
USdollars 50 million depending on whom you talk to - would have
disqualified it as a contender for the Agency of the Year crown.
However, because of a dispute over whether Australia should be included
in the pitch (MEDIA, September 1) resulted in the agency virtually
resigning the account.
But that's not meant at taking anything away from BBDO, the eventual
winner of the Visa pitch. BBDO, which has been upping the regional
creative stakes out of the Philippines for much of the year, was still
the dark horse, although it looks poised to be accumulating the critical
mass of work needed to make people sit up and pay attention in 2001.
Accounts - big or small - aside, Saatchis was one of only a handful of
agencies which was able to not only say it was an ideas-driven agency,
but to actually show and demonstrate it in an accountable fashion.
Part of the success here has been in the overall leadership, but mainly
it has been because the leadership has succeeded in telling those below
them that what counts is great creative that works and which are seen to
work.
The following are some of Saatchis accounts and what its campaigns
delivered to the client, all backed by independent research:
- NetEase (China) - brand awareness tripled, registered users rose 57
per cent, and it is now the top Internet portal in China, up from its
pre-campaign ranking of No.3;
- Vitasoy (Hong Kong) - top of mind awareness grew from 85 per cent to
90 per cent, while advertising awareness jumped from 19 per cent to 40
per cent;
- DBS Bank (Singapore) - one year sales target achieved in only three
months;
- Far East Tone (Taiwan) - number of customers downloading service and
e-coupons soared by around 10 times to 56,000 and 35,000 a day
respectively;
- Head & Shoulders (Thailand) - sales of the shampoo are up by more than
50 per cent;
- Fosters (Vietnam) - top of mind awareness of the beer brand went from
zero to 38 per cent.
Finally, Saatchis is deemed to be the best among its peers. The agency
has done well at award shows around the region for many years, and 2000
was no exception.
It won 'Best of the Best' at MEDIA's Asian Advertising Awards, the Hong
Kong 4As Kam Fan for the second year in a row and the Golden Gong in
Singapore for the third successive year.
In the Philippines, it won the 4As Agency of the Year title, which was
on top of its first place finish at the Creative Guild awards.
All in all, a hard act to follow.
However, it wasn't just one or two things which landed Saatchis the
prize of Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year.
It was all about making great, effective and unique advertising for
clients, being accountable, winning new accounts and maintaining
existing ones.
WINNERS AT A GLANCE
AGENCY OF THE YEAR
Saatchi & Saatchi
MEDIA AGENCY OF THE YEAR
CIA Medianetwork
ADVERTISER OF THE YEAR
Bayer Philippines
BEST USE OF MEDIA
Optimum Media Direction for Sunday/Saltimbanco MTR Journey
MEDIA PERSON OF THE YEAR
Ms Sharon Soh, CIA Medianetwork Singapore
AGENCY PERSON OF THE YEAR
Joint winners:
Mr Jeffrey Yu, president Bates Asia and chairman HK4As
Mr Barry Owen, head of creative, Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific
SUIT OF THE YEAR
Mr Jeff Ho, Leo Burnett
Hong Kong
ASIAN CREATIVE AD OF THE YEAR
The Sunday campaigns
Client: Sunday Telecommunications
Agency: BBDO Hong Kong
CHINA AD CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
Unicef, Saatchi & Saatchi China
NEW LEAF AWARD
DDB Singapore
YOUTH MARKETING AWARD
Leo Burnett Singapore
