The things we did not do ..

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