Media Edge reels in $23m SingTel work

SINGAPORE: The Media Edge (TME) outgunned its rivals to scoop the S$40 million (US$23 million) Singapore Telecommunications consolidated media deal, the largest pitch in Singapore this year. The Young & Rubicam shop pitched against Starcom, Carat and Zenith for the media buying contract, which was previously split among several agencies. TME was the main incumbent on the business, although O2 Advertising did some buying and Starcom handled SingTel's youth brand Pod and retail advertising for its mobile services. Starcom managing director D. Sriram,said there would be no job cuts as a result of the loss as the agency only handled 15 per cent of SingTel's media buying. "TME largely had the account. There must have been some resistance to moving it." Sriram added: "SingTel was the biggest spender but it wasn't buying as one. It was buying as a group of fragmented companies." A SingTel spokeswoman confirmed there would be a separate pitch for media planning. TME managing director Adrian Smith said his agency would employ four extra people to handle the increase in billings. Smith said agencies in the pitch had to complete a test for the buying TV spots to achieve a certain reach and frequency against particular target audiences.

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