Market Catalyst in Cafe de Coral win

HONG KONG: Market Catalyst International has scooped the HK$30 million (US$4 million) account of Chinese fast food operator Cafe De Coral, which had about 15 agencies expressing interest in its mid-year review. The two-year-old marketing consultancy outgunned incumbent D'Arcy, which had the account for the past three years, and McCann-Erickson Guangming, according to Cafe's senior marketing manager Carmen Leung. The move is effective this month and will see Market Catalyst handling Cafe's creative and media briefs. "One of the important aspects in the selection was the creative strategy. Market Catalyst was strong in this area," she said. Market Catalyst chief executive Conrad Chiu said Cafe provided a tight pitch brief, which asked for alternative ways to build its brand. "Cafe de Coral is not a market leader for no reason. It is receptive to new marketing ideas and initiatives. It is ready to step out of the comfort zone of a conventional advertising-dominated approach," said Chiu. Despite the slowing economy, Cafe has been reinvesting in its product, upgrading outlets and introducing new selections to its menu. Leung said competition was intense in the fast food category, but this led Cafe to innovate and improve rather than cut prices as its competitors had done. Cafe de Coral Holdings has so far managed to buck the economic downturn, with a 15 per cent profit gain for the year ending March 31, 2001 over the same period last year. The higher than usual number of agencies expressing interest in the pitch is seen as further evidence of the increasing sluggishness of the local advertising market. "If times were normal, we would have had four to five agencies at most pitching for an account of this size," a source said. The company eventually considered pitches from five agencies, before shortlisting three for final selection.

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