Initiative Media Indonesia wins Santos, retains Sampoerna

The appointment for Santos Jaya Abadi was made after a pitch process in August and September, which evaluated agencies on their strategic thinking, innovation, resources and tools and systems. Maxus, Dentsu and Activate were also involved in the pitch.

The win also includes Santos Jaya Abadi's sister company under the Kapal Api Global group, Agel Langgeng, for its candy and biscuit business.

Initiative Media will be responsible for media planning and buying for all the brands in the coffee and candy portfolios. Santos Jaya Abadi is one of the biggest coffee companies in the country, with brands Kapal Api, Kopi ABC, GoodDay and Excelso.

Ram Subramaniam, senior technical advisor at Initiative Media, credited the win to the agency’s ability to think through the problem and provide a strategy that addressed the key areas for growing the brands.

Natasha Sidhu, marketing director at Santos Jaya Abadi, said all the agencies came out with strong strategic solutions. “Initiative demonstrated sharp clarity in knowing how to make us more impactful in media connections for today’s environment,” she said. “In short, strategic skills were complemented with implementation delivery know-how.”

Initiative Media also successfully retained Sampoerna, marking the sixth year of its relationship with the tobacco company. The five-way pitch, which was called in July, involved Maxus, Starcom, Dentsu and MPG.

The contract period is from 2014 to 2016.

According to Nielsen’s 2012 adex figures, the total adspend of these two businesses is more than US$100 million, with Santos Jaya Abadi at US$59 million and Sampoerna US$42 million.