Saatchis dropped in shuffle at Pen

<p>Bates is rumoured to be interested in the Asia-Pacific Peninsula Hotel </p><p>account, after the hotel group dropped Saatchi & Saatchi as its AOR of </p><p>14 years. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The rumours were given credence after Bates resigned the Mandarin </p><p>Oriental below-the-line account. However, Bates Asia president Jeffrey </p><p>Yu denied his agency was actively trying to obtain the business although </p><p>he did say, "we would pitch if asked to." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He added he resigned the Mandarin account because he wanted to "marshall </p><p>the agency's strengths to focus on what it does best, which is </p><p>advertising". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Saatchis blamed the Peninsula loss on what it called "the classic, new </p><p>marketing director's syndrome". Saatchis regional CEO Patrick Pitcher </p><p>said that over the past three years, the hotel changed marketing </p><p>directors three times and reduced its spend because of the economic </p><p>downturn. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The Peninsula has been a fantastic client and the parting of ways has </p><p>been amicable, but the new marketing director feels they need a change </p><p>and need to build a new team," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The Peninsula Group's brand manager Rolf Heidrich responded by saying: </p><p>"Given that the business and consumer environments - particularly within </p><p>the luxury services sector - is changing and evolving more rapidly, we </p><p>were keen to support our own internal marketing strategy development </p><p>efforts with fresh perspectives from external business </p><p>competencies". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He added that in light of this, "we feel a smaller agency may be </p><p>appropriate to our company needs at this time". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Meanwhile, Mandarin's above-the-line agency M&C Saatchi is believed to </p><p>have picked up where Bates left off. It recently hired Bates account </p><p>director Alice Wu. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Ms Wu, who joins M&C this month, spent a significant amount of time on </p><p>the Mandarin account during her seven years with Bates. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>TOP TEN TV RECALL</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">HONG KONG</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">1) McDONALD'S: client: McDonald's; agency: DDB.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">2) VITASOY (Hot Vitasoy): client: Vitasoy; agency: Saatchi & </p><p>Saatchi.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">3) WELLCOME: client: Wellcome Supermarket; agency: McCann Erickson.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">4) SAN MIGUEL (LMF): client: San Miguel Brewery; agency: JWT.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">5) PARK N' SHOP: client: Park N' Shop; agency: DDB.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">6) KFC: client: KFC; agency: O&M.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">7) CTI IDD: client: CTI; agency: Grey</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">8) ORANGE: client: Hutchison Telecom; agency: O&M.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">8) SIEMENS MP3 MOBILE PHONE: client: Siemens; agency: JWT.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">10) CARLSBERG BEER: client: Carlsberg HK; agency: BBDO.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">10) COCA COLA: client: Coca-Cola; agency: D'Arcy.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">10) YAKULT: client: Yakult; agency: DY&R.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear"> </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Data on TV ads scoring the highest recall among consumers polled was </p><p>collected by NFO WORLDGROUP - Hong Kong www.nfow.com.hk on behalf of </p><p>MEDIA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>(February 5-16, 2001). </p><p><BR><BR> </p>