KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian telco giant Maxis, the country's largest advertiser, is reviewing its estimated RM200 million (US$60 million) creative accounts.
Incumbents BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and Leo Burnett have been invited to pitch, along with Y&R, Lowe and an undisclosed number of 'top- tier' agencies.
BBDO handles the pre-paid Maxis business while Ogilvy & Mather has the post-paid account, which it retained in January last year. Leo Burnett handles the B2B services advertising.
"We are looking for long- term agency partners to help us win the next phase of the market evolution in Malaysia," Maxis marketing director Tom Schnitker said. See Opinion 1, page 19
"We are going for quality and expertise, not just price," he said, adding that he intends to form agency relationships that will stand for five years or more.
Although a formal brief has yet to be issued to agencies, it is believed it will look at ways to win customer loyalty and grow share as Malaysia's mobile phone market heads towards saturation.
Eight out of ten Malaysians now own a mobile phone, up from a third in 2003, thanks to falling handset prices and cheap prepaid starter packs.
Maxis is Malaysia's largest mobile telecom brand, followed by Telecom Malaysia's Celcom. Third largest DiGi is the fastest growing, with revenues up by 31 per cent in 2006. Maxis grew by 19 per cent while TM increased by 18 per cent.
Flagline. Style to link to inside
