The three companies are Sony Singapore, Buena Vista Columbia TriStar Films Singapore and Sony Music Entertainment. Sony's joint-venture companies such as Sony Ericsson have not been included in the deal. Starcom pitched for the account late last year against Dentsu and ZenithMedia.
Sony declined to comment on the size of the combined budget. At a group level, the electronics and entertainment giant reported a Y111 billion (about US$922 million) loss for the first three months of this year, almost 20 times the loss for the same period last year. The loss has been blamed on the heavy cost of restructuring of its ailing music business. Charlotte Low, Sony's Singapore's head of advertising and promotions, said: "The media consolidation will not only improve our advertising efficiency and effectiveness, but also enhance group synergies among the three Sony group companies from the planning stage. One of the benefits expected from media consolidation is lower purchasing costs for advertising space and time slots. This will result in a more efficient utilisation of our advertising budget.
"Secondly, because a single agency will work on the media planning of all three Sony group companies in an integrated manner, we expect to benefit from synergies among the three companies from the planning stage. This will allow more effective Sony group branding activities."
She said the buying strategy would remain the same this year but the companies would consider collaborating in buying to "create synergies in the marketing communication of Sony group companies".
Starcom has also won consolidated media briefs from Sony companies in Australia, India and Korea.