TBWA fought off the challenges of the incumbent, JWT, Bates, Publicis, Dentsu and one other, going up against Bates and JWT in the final round. First pitched at the end of April, the account was initially thought to only include the telecommunication giant’s new high-end 156 brand, to be launched later this year.
However, the account was expanded to include Unicom’s other two GSM brands, U-Power and Ruyitong, nationally. “Our relationship with Unicom has built very quickly,” said Anthony Polivineo, GM, TBWA\Beijing.
“It’s been evolving over a three- or four-week period.”
TBWA, along with sister companies Tequila and Agency.com, will look after TV, print, outdoor, events, interactive, sales promotion and POS.
“We’ve been trying to break into the telco business in China for a while,” said Keith Smith, president — international, TBWA\Worldwide. “We’ve done well internationally, but it’s great to cement a large local client.”
The TBWA Beijing office has seen Polivineo, ECD Chien Hwang, planner Jeremy Sy and Tequila GM Ross Gearing all arriving in the last year. The win of the China Unicom account should also see the Beijing office expand further, with a new business director due later this month.
China Unicom, which has a GSM and CDMA network, lags its competitor China Mobile in revenue and subscriber numbers. JWT has been tipped to keep the CDMA business after a pitch in May.
Meanwhile, TBWA has acquired Malaysian hotshop Sil Ad, and will begin operating as Creative Juice-Sil. This is the network’s fourth investment in Malaysia, after TBWA-ISC, Tequila-Myalo and Wizard Media Dynamics.
“We’re very selective about where we launch the Creative Juice brand. Malaysia’s industry has improved incredibly over the last three years, and we felt it was ready,” said Smith, adding that it was not intended to be a conflict shop.
Creative Juice launched in Bangkok in 2003 and in Manila last year. Sa’ad Hussein, Sil Ad ECD and MD, will lead the new entity in the same roles. Sil Ad clients include Nissan, Indocafe and Sony.
Additional reporting by Sara Yin
