The six agencies were chosen from a field of eight. A third incumbent, Lowe, which handles the oil firm’s lubricant business, missed the cut. DraftFCB is the surprise inclusion to the pitch process, having not been involved in the first round.
In the previous round of pitching, shortlisted agencies had been briefed on Petron’s corporate image.
The current six are now preparing for a product-focused pitch that many believe could be a final round of reviewing before a decision is made within March.
The Filipino oil giant handed its estimated US$10 million media account to Starcom in July last year and is currently looking to appoint a creative agency for each of its three business groups - corporate, lubricants and cars/LPG.
Separately, San Miguel Corp, Southeast Asia’s largest F&B conglomerate, is currently looking to diversify its business interests beyond food by acquiring control of Petron for P32.8 billion (US$675 million).
