Agencies objected to the state-owned airline’s insistence that contenders pay a US$3,000 deposit - retrievable only on the condition that the winning agency performs to the client’s expectations. The stipulation was labelled “ridiculous” by one multinational agency head. No date has been set for when the pitch will re-start.
Vietnam Airline’s advertising and media has thus far been handled in-house and by local agencies. The client has historically tried to remunerate its agencies by offering them free flights to shoot locations, but no payment.
The pitch was first seen as the airline’s first serious attempt to assemble a professional, integrated agency roster. Vietnam Airlines is believed to want to create a bolder brand identity and integrate its communications in line with a newly designed livery in the form of a lotus logo on its tail fin.
The company has grown consistently since it was formed from the merger of a number of Government-run businesses in 1995. Passenger numbers have grown by an average of 37 per cent each year over the past decade.
