Events: Jack Morton surges to No. 1

Jack Morton's rollercoaster relationship with Agency of the Year has turned in its favour this year, climbing from sixth in 2008 to lead the 2009 field from the front.

It's been one big year for the experiential marketing agency, having overhauled its regional leadership which saw former Hong Kong MD Ben Taylor promoted to a senior regional role and Guy Parsonage taking over the local office as general manager.

Key events for the agency this year included the IBM CIO Leadership Exchange in Shanghai, which saw 300 global CIO's attend the two day conference. Jack Morton was also responsible for leading Samsung's three global events for its Anycall Jet handset, held concurrently in

London, Singapore and Dubai, with the Hong Kong office responsible for the Singapore event. Other key moments for the agency in the past year has been its developments in the virtual events business, allowing its clients to create customised online events. Parsonage says this new offering has gained client approval in light of budget cuts.

In this tough economic environment, a cost-effective virtual platform is one area clients are embracing, he argues.

"This platform is a powerful online capability to extend, enhance and amplify our live events." he says.

A newcomer to the Events category this year is local public relations consultancy Strategic Public Relations Group, or more commonly known as SPRG.

SPRG is among the largest local public relations consultancy, with around 150 retainer clients in Hong Kong. For the past eight months, the company has worked with Google, the Vivienne Westwood fashion exhibition for Swire Properties and added a string of accounts including the Hong Kong Science & Technology Park.

Ogilvy & Mather also maintained its spot in the top three with wins such as Asian Auction Week, a first time collaboration with Taiwan, Singapore and Japan auctioneers.

Top Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide

Owned by: Interpublic

Headed by: Guy Parsonage, general manager

Last year: 6