LEADER: When low rates alone failed to seduce

<p>For too long, clients - including multinational corporations - have </p><p>been seduced by the rock-bottom media rates that local brokers in China </p><p>boasted they could deliver. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But it's a fleeting seduction if Procter & Gamble's decision to drop </p><p>local broker Deluxe after a little over a year for Zenith Media is </p><p>anything to go by. Bargain-basement rates are one thing especially when </p><p>budgets are shrinking, as P&G's obviously has. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Equally important is the ability of a local broker to deliver on an </p><p>advertiser's spot plan. Otherwise, a cut-price deal - no matter how </p><p>attractive it may be in dollar terms - is hardly the bargain it's made </p><p>out to be. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>