The pharmaceutical and healthcare company is thought to be considering three agencies for the consolidated business, worth an estimated US$25 million: Group M, MediaCom, which holds most of the business for review, and Starcom. The pitch will be co-ordinated from GSK's regional headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Group M handles media in China while it is thought Starcom has no current ties to the company. MediaCom, the drug company's global AOR, has media responsibilities for all Southeast Asian markets except Vietnam and Singapore.The agencies are due to present their credentials next month.
The task is believed to combine media duties for GSK's pharmaceutical and consumer divisions for what is thought to be the first time in Asia, in what is regarded as an efficiency drive as the group consolidates its suppliers across a number of markets.
GSK could not be contacted for further details of timing or the rationale behind the pitch at Media's presstime.
The winning agency will oversee media for a number of GSK's over the counter products including oral care brands such as Aquafresh, Sensodyne and Polident, painkiller brand Panadol, stomach settler Emo, drink brands Horlicks and Ribena and eye care brand Eye Mo.
The successful company will oversee media in six Southeast Asian markets: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, in addition to Taiwan. GSK's major competitors vary by product and by market, making regional marketing a deft task for any of its marcoms suppliers.
The company uses a range of different advertising firms in Asia, including Grey Global Group, McCann Erickson and Ogilvy & Mather. The firm recently transferred the Thai account for its prescription drugs from Grey Worldwide to McCann WorldGroup, which has started to build a specialised unit to help service the business.
In a separate development GSK has also sold the exclusive marketing rights for non-US markets for its anti-impotence Levitra drug to Bayer. The two drug companies previously co-promoted the treatment together. The two companies will continue to jointly promote the drug in the US.
GSK, a British-based firm, employs 35,000 people, with 85 manufacturing sites in 37 countries. Its portfolio includes over 10 $100 million brands.
Each year the company produces more than 300 million bottles of Lucozade and Ribena, plus 350 million Ribena tetra packs.
The annual output of Horlicks is 50 million kilogrammes, equivalent to about 1,000 million servings. In healthcare, GSK creates in one year nine billion tablets for stomach upsets, six billion tablets for pain relief and 600 million tubes of toothpaste.