HONG KONG: Market Catalyst has expanded its fledgling relationship
with Lam Soon to knock J. Walter Thompson off the consumer goods
company's edible oil business.
It beat JWT and a third agency, which Lam Soon declined to name, in a
pitch held two months ago.
Market Catalyst's appointment comes as Lam Soon looks for new ways to
maintain its leadership of the edible oils category, which it dominates
with its Knife brand. Jim Tsao, group managing director of Lam Soon Hong
Kong, said: "Edible oils is a very sizeable category - it's easily one
of the top five in revenue terms in supermarkets - and as a result most
food companies have aspirations to enter this segment. We face
competitive moves every month; we have to attack and defend at the same
time."
In the last 12 months, Lam Soon launched two "health-oriented" cooking
oils, high monounsaturated options.
Tsao said competitors had yet to follow its lead, allowing Lam Soon to
capture a three per cent share of this segment.
"Our research showed that consumers take quality for granted from Lam
Soon, but they are concerned about health issues," said Tsao. Lam Soon's
Knife brand has won accolades from the Chinese Manufacturers Association
and in Reader's Digest's SuperBrands awards.
Tsao said the decision to move the business to Market Catalyst - which
has several senior ex-JWT staff on its team - was made because the
company showed strong insight into the category. "They handled the
account in the past when they were at JWT."
Conrad Chiu, Market Catalyst's CEO, said it was working on a new Lam
Soon assignment when it was asked to pitch for the entire account, which
been in JWT's hands for the past eight years.
