Proton assigns Leo Burnett as creative AOR in Malaysia

The national carmaker had called for a review of its creative account in June and had invited Leo Burnett, Milk+Co, Ogilvy & Mather and incumbent McCann Erickson to pitch.

Leo Burnett is now expected to take on campaigns for Proton that would break in local and international markets and would be tasked to help position and promote the car brand globally as wellOn the account win, Tan Kien Eng, CEO of Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide Malaysia and Singapore, said: "As Malaysians, having the chance to work with, and be part of the team to help grow a national icon like Proton to its next level of progress is of huge significance to us."

He added: "Proton has come a long way since its beginnings in 1985 and we are definitely looking forward to leverage our HumanKind approach where we put people at the center of everything we do and identifying a brand human purpose to help raise the bar for the brand to reflect its serious commitment to be a global player in the automobile industry."

In 2008, McCann Erickson emerged victoriously from a three-month long review of Proton's advertising account. The account was estimated to be worth RM45 million (US$14 million) then.

On the account shift, Tony Savarimuthu, CEO of McCann Worldgroup Malaysia, said: "It has been eight years and perhaps it is also time for us move on and hand the baton over. It was our privilege to work on the Proton account because we overcame a number of challenges to help re-build the brand and achieve success with some of their best cars over the last decade."

"We continue to have a solid relationship with the Proton management," added Savarimuthu. "We part company on the best possible terms."

Savarimuthu further confirmed that McCann is currently working on a number of key assignments for Proton to be completed before the end of the year.

McCann retained the Proton account three times in the past and has worked on the account for eight years.

The IPG agency helped launched Proton cars in Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia and has worked with the Proton team to launch the Saga, Persona, and the Exora.

McCann also recently concluded the launch of Proton's 25th anniversary celebrations and worked on an eight-episode branded entertainment programme targeting Chinese consumers on 8TV.