MEDIA-I: CCG.XM wins Silk Air and Visa online work

SINGAPORE: Cordiant Communications Group's CCG.XM has won the Visa and Silk Air interactive businesses in Singapore. In a cost-saving move, the agency has also consolidated its back room operations with Bates 141. CCG.XM's chief executive officer, Ken Mandel, said: "The changes in the back room operations are just back end changes. The XM brand name will continue to exist, and our staff and clients will not be affected. "We've worked closely with Bates 141 in the past and this just means that our global team in New York will have less of a function. Our staff changes were made during the year. But smaller offices that are underperforming, including the Norway office, will see the company put into 141 or the Bates group. We've seen 20 per cent growth this year and are still winning work." The interactive agency won the Silk Air work following a four-way pitch, which involved OgilvyOne, Adriot and another Singapore high-tech company, sources said. The regional carrier reportedly took a year to reach a decision on its agency appointments, and recently awarded its advertising account to Ogilvy & Mather. A source said the account went to CCG.XM after a second pitch was called following O&M's appointment. Mandel confirmed that the agency would revamp Silk Air's website and help the airline migrate its site to a content management system. "There will be a new look and feel to the website. The idea will be to offer more than just pretty pictures." He declined to provide details of the new design or direction of the website, but noted that it would follow "what is being done offline". Mandel added that CCG.XM was well placed to handle Silk Air because it had produced similar work for its parent company, Singapore Airlines. "We revamped the look and feel of the Singapore Airlines website, which is now available across 39 countries. We also took the site and put it on to a content management system." CCG.XM, which has handled interactive work for Visa since 1998, will also revamp the credit card company's Asia-Pacific website. The agency pitched against Euro RSCG and four others to win the regional interactive business for Visa. "We've done some work in the past for Visa, including setting up Visa's 'library', which allowed different people, with different levels of access, to share media information so that everyone could see work as it was in progress. We already have a client team in place for Visa, but we will be looking to set up another team, which will involve some juggling of staff. This win solidifies the relationship we have with Visa." Helen Jolly, director, digital communications at Visa International Asia-Pacific, said the company could see the "advantages" of consolidating its work with a single agency, but added, "presently, we are still using other agencies".

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