The pitches for the two markets occurred separately, however, there was a common denominator, said Nick Waters, MindShare Southeast Asia chief executive officer. "Unilever is very value-driven. Competitive buying along with good strategic analyses on proprietary research were essential factors which we all had to take into consideration in a big way, he said.
In a parallel development, Lim Siew Ping has quit as ZenithMedia Guangzhou managing director to run the Unilever business in Malaysia for MindShare.
Initiative Media had held the centralised buying assignment in Malaysia, with planning split among Initiative, MindShare and Universal McCann.
In Vietnam, planning was handled by J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, McCann-Erickson and Lowe, with buying handled by local shops in line with the country's laws. However, MindShare had an edge when it opened a Vietnam office, after sister agency JWT became the first foreign firm to gain a media buying licence, which it transferred to its media sibling. There was no review of the creative account, which is split on the basis of global alignments, mainly with JWT, O&M, McCann and Lowe.
