P&G reassigns Southeast Asia media agencies

Procter & Gamble has realigned its media accounts in Thailand, Malaysia

and Singapore following a review that began in February.

In Singapore, Zenith was tapped to oversee both planning and buying.

Until recently, it had only been responsible for buying.

In Thailand and Malaysia, Starcom became the agency of record. It

previously only handled the buying portion of the assignment.

Sources close to the pitch said a media scheduling test was employed to

examine agencies' buying capabilities, while the planning evaluation was

based on strategic recommendations based on possible campaigns for the

coming 12 months.

Starcom used to have the Singapore buying account, while Zenith had

planning.

However, the fact that each AOR fell neatly with one agency per market

was a coincidence.

"It just happened that way. I don't think there was any intention of

consolidating with one agency per market," one source said.

However, what emerged was that the buying agency won the AOR in each of

the three markets.

"If you're the buying agency and you have a good relationship with the

client and provided you have done a good job, then it seems that you

have the edge in getting the whole account," the source said.