The things we did not do ..

Most agencies start their year with a list of things they want to achieve. Most of these items end up as a wish list that are filed away at the end of the year. In 2000, we decided to take a totally different approach. We decided to not do some things that we felt were limiting us: - We will not stop investing in Asia. Cordiant Communications Group, our holding company made their biggest investment in Asia. We purchased Diamond Advertising, the third biggest agency in Korea adding in USdollars 600 million billings to our group. Now, the Bates group is the second biggest international network in Asia-Pacific. - We did not stop investing in our people. In 2000, we made a pledge to introduce e-knowledge to our executives. Over 60 managers in 10 countries went back to university, through the Internet, to take part in a six-month intensive course on Internet marketing designed and run by University of British Columbia. We devised the Bates MBA, in conjunction with KPMG to improve the business consultancy skills of our mid-level managers. We introduced Strategy School, a rolling series of four intensive workshops to sharpen the planning skills of our account service and planners. Over 70 people in Bates Asia have gone through the programmes. - We did not resort to scam ads to do great advertising. This year, we targeted Nokia and Heineken to raise the standards on regional creative work. Our latest efforts are a clear indication that we can not only create great local work, but we can lead the way in multi-country regional advertising on major brands. This has been done through a combination of our investment in creative and strategic resources. - We did not stop chasing new business. This attitude of chasing new business no matter what gets in the way has spurred us to have a record year in new business. From major local wins like New Century Infocomm account in Taiwan to the most talked about Singapore pitch of the year: the second agency for the Singapore Airlines global account, for which 17 agencies were competing. Pitches big and small, we certainly did not win them all, but we won more than our fair share.

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