The agency outgunned Universal McCann, MindShare, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis-Optimedia in a pitch that focused on maximising buying and planning effectiveness and cost efficiency.
San Miguel's brewing products, Purefoods range and Magnolia chicken and frozen goods line are the brands that Starcom will be handling, under its newly-won agency of record status.
The decision deals a major blow to Universal McCann, which previously handled the San Miguel Pale Pilsen account.
Just months earlier, McCann-Erickson retained the creative account in a fierce multi-agency pitch. The agency has worked on the account since 1986.
This is the first time San Miguel had called separate pitches for its creative and media accounts. It is understood that the reason behind the move was aimed at sourcing the best capabilities in the country as well as to cut costs.
But a source said that the battle for the account centred on effectiveness as all the agencies were similar in terms of maximising cost efficiency.
"We all use mostly the same suppliers, the source said.
However, observers said the arrangement might create difficulties in information sharing since the two agencies belong to rival networks - Bcom3, which operates Starcom, and Interpublic Group, which runs McCann.
An industry source said: "Media insight and information on the media landscape is important and impact greatly on creative strategy."
According to Nielsen Media Research, the San Miguel brewing and food accounts had a spend of P750 million (US$15.2 million) last year. But sources believed the real figure was closer to two-thirds of that.
