FOCUS: AGENCY OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2000 - Who the finalists were, and why they lost out

Ogilvy & Mather, Agency of the Year for two years in a row in 1998 and 1999, Leo Burnett Bates and BBDO were all just pipped at the post by Saatchi & Saatchi for the top accolade this year. All the agencies racked up major account wins, created truly impressive campaigns and turned in a respectable performance at awards shows around the region, however, all lacked that extra little something that made the difference. The race was so close that for the first time, MEDIA asked all the major agencies for submissions to argue their case as to why they should win the Agency of the Year award. Some agencies were honest and declined the invitation, saying they were still in the midst of reorganising and restructuring. For the majority of the others though, they went in with guns blazing. But as the smoke dissipated, there were only a few left standing. The losing finalists were on a par with Saatchis when it came to big account wins and the creation of some memorable campaigns. However, they could not match Saatchis' record of taking 'Best of Show' at some of the top awards shows around the region, including MEDIA'S Asian Advertising Awards 1999. - O&M Asia-Pacific won the most awards for the region in Cannes this year, along with major successes in the One Show and The Clios. Its new wins included Motorola, Japan Telcom and Rolex, translating into a growth rate of at least 30 per cent on 1999. This is on top of the fact that it has been aggressively expanding its interactive capabilities to ensure the fullest potential of the Internet can be offered to its clients. - Leo Burnett won such accounts as Wrigley (China), Prudential (Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and Indonesia) Chung Hwa Telecom (Taiwan) and Shinsei Bank (Japan), resulting in a revenue growth of almost 20 per cent. The agency also bagged large numbers of awards at shows in Asia-Pacific. Its creative high point came in Malaysia, where it took the Golden Kancil for client Petronas. - Bates has picked up Singapore Airlines e-booking account, President Milk and the huge NCIC account in Taiwan. Impressive ads, e.g for Nokia and Heineken, also counted. - BBDO pulled in 32 awards at MEDIA's Asian Advertising Awards and the AdFest. Its list of new wins were impressive: Visa Asia-Pacific, Maxis Telecom in Malaysia, Singapore Tourism Board, and New Zealand Milk and Pizza Hut in the Philippines.

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