With income at a little more than half of Naga, the former front runner tumbled to fifth place.
The biggest strides up the rankings were made by Dentsu Young & Rubicam and Grey Global Group, which jumped from their respective sixth and seventh slots in 2000 to within the top five last year.
At the same time, Leo Burnett fell from third to sixth place in the rankings, compiled using new income rules instituted by the 4As.
In place of capitalised billings, the 4As has for the first time ranked agencies on gross income.
An official of the 4As said billings were an archaic yardstick since agencies were no longer earning from a 15 per cent media commission.
Vincent Lee, Naga DDB chairman, claimed his agency would have topped the rankings for the past five years if gross income had been the yardstick.
Naga DDB's gross income rose sharply last year against 2000, helped by a regional advertising campaign the agency created for Tourism Malaysia.
In Grey's case, the agency moved from seventh to third place in part because its retail marketing and sales promotions unit G2 won the Dunhill account in late 2000.
Charles Cadell, Burnett Malaysia managing director, predicted that agencies with tobacco accounts could experience an income drop this year when Malaysia outlaws below-the-line marketing activities of tobacco brands from next month.
A ban on all above-the-line campaigns by tobacco firms has been in force for some time.
But despite the fact that Burnett was also on the roster of a big tobacco company, handling Philip Morris, Cadell believed it would become a top three agency soon with the landing of the Malaysia Airlines business.
TOP 10 AGENCY RANKING
Agency 2001 gross Agency
rankings income rankings
2001 (RMB million) 2000
1 Naga DDB 44.064 2
2 DY&R 38.337 6
3 Grey 26.099 7
4 McCann Erickson 25.530 4
5 Bates 23.572 1
6 Leo Burnett 22.851 3
7 Ogilvy & Mather 22.726 5
8 FCB 15.500 9
9 Lowe 12.976 8
10 J. Walter Thompson 10.089 -
