Ed's Letter - Oct07

It's hunting season in adland

The smell of blood is in the air again for both clients and agency, after a relatively quiet spell in the first half of this year. While we saw a fair number of global account changes in the early half, these couple of months are seeing more local contracts arrive at the T-junction for negotiation - which means both clients and agencies are on the prowl.

M1 in August renewed its contract with TBWA, Changi Airport's new Terminal 3 business was awarded to Y&R while the expanded Audi business (the marque made Singapore a National Sales Company and regained importership control) is still in flux at the time of print, with strong leanings towards Batey as opposed to Y&R.

The Singapore Grand Prix account is one which is being watched closely too, with Fulford speeding off with the PR slice of the pie, Mediaedge:cia getting behind the media wheel, now all eyes are on which agency(s) gets to put on the racing gloves instead of just smelling the rubber.

SingTel, the third largest advertiser in Singapore as of Jan-Jun 2007, has also thrown the gauntlet down to "world class agencies" to show their might, and appointed R3 to help manage the pitch. Watchers would have to wait till January for the results though, and it does seem the parties involved won't have much of a Christmas and New Year break - although they could just be partying together...

The second half of the year is typically a busy time for most because budgets for the next year are getting set, and perhaps everyone is "waking up" to the idea that there is not much time left to do things that can make 2007 really count. So as you finalise plans for 2008 and hunker down for a period of late nights and heavy work in the lead up to the festive December, it may be a good idea to keep an eye open for any hunting opportunities because you may just be pleasantly surprised. When you do, be sure to keep Marketing magazine in the loop, eh?

Debbie Cai