Acer picks Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore for global duties

Taiwanese IT brand Acer has appointed Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore as its creative agency. The agency will help the brand develop its global brand idea, which will be executed  across key markets and channels.This is Acer's first time appointing a global creative agency. Saatchis will work closely with Red Peak, Acer’s branding consultancy. According to Adweek, the agency beat out Grey and Dentsu while DDB is said to have withdrawn itself from the pitch.Maarten Schellekens, chief marketing officer for Acer said: “We are excited about the intelligence, ideas and passion Saatchi’s have demonstrated throughout the process and about the journey we will go on together. The IT market is very competitive and cluttered and we believe the work we will do together with Saatchi’s will differentiate Acer and help us go forward.”As reported earlier by Marketing, Acer had appointed Roth Observatory International (ROI) to manage its global creative agency pitch process. ROI was appointed at the chemistry meeting stage and was then managing the process to a shortlist of four agencies for the final pitching round. Grey London, Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore, DDB Amsterdam/Shanghai and Dentsu Aegis Singapore/Japan were the agencies in the shortlist.Roth Observatory’s managing partner for Asia Pacific, Paul Davies, said: “We are delighted to have helped Acer find a global marketing communications partner. The Acer team that included global and regional participants were a pleasure to work with and are determined to form a great partnership with Saatchi’s. Saatchi & Saatchi’s delivered on all the key criteria Acer identified as critical in achieving their marketing objectives and will help them continue with their growth and success.”Shannon Callum, CEO Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore said: “Acer is a global company with enormous scale and even bigger ambition – and the more time we’ve spent with them the more excited we’ve become about what we can accomplish together. This win speaks to what we’re capable of as an agency, and is a real testament to where Singapore based agencies can play within our industry – this is a world class creative market which I’m sure will host more global business in the coming years. ”