STB winners to start hiring spree

• BBH, MEC & XM to hire new staff
• Following STB win
• Creative & account service hires 

Singapore - BBH, Mediaedge:cia and XM Asia - the three agencies that last week were appointed to the global Singapore Tourism Board account (STB) - are gearing up to hire new staff to service the massive business.

The agencies were appointed on 27 April after a huge pitch that saw BBH defeat Ogilvy and Publicis for creative, MEC win against incumbent Starcom Mediavest and OMD for media, and XM defeat OgilvyOne and Modem for the digital account. Y&R was the creative incumbent on STB but did not make the final shortlist.

Marketing understands the three winning agencies have begun the process of looking for additional employees to handle STB.

John Hadfield, managing director of BBH Asia Pacific, said: "We're always on the lookout for great talent. Our hiring principles are very simple: great at what they do, and genuinely nice people. We'll continue to look for talent that fulfills these objectives across all disciplines."

MEC and XM declined to comment, but sources indicate that both will also be looking to potentially hire both creative and account service staff. The STB account is one of the biggest advertising accounts in Singapore.

Y&R Singapore laid off 5% of its staff in March following the departure of STB. Jeffrey Seah, Starcom's Southeast Asia CEO, said Starcom will endeavour to minimalise the impact of the loss of STB on the agency.

"At this moment, the task we have at hand is to make sure the transition process is as smooth as possible as STB is a multi-dimensional account. At the same time, we're also looking at staff reassignments, with changes made to our account servicing teams. Securing new businesses will continue to be a key priority for us. Given the current economic volatility, nothing is certain. But what is certain, and important to us, is the well-being of our staff and thus, we will endeavour to minimise the impact on them," Seah said.