MediaCom trumps favourites for SMA glory

Singapore - In what can be considered an upset, MediaCom has beaten larger agencies such as last year's winner OMD and MindShare to be crowned Media Agency of the Year at last Friday's Singapore Media Awards (SMA). ZenithOptimedia also celebrated, receiving the Grand Prix for its "Explore Singapore 2007" campaign.

MediaCom won in four categories including Agency of the Year, Best Youth Marketing Campaign, Best Experiential Marketing Campaign, and Best Pan Asian Campaign. All the winning campaigns were for client Nokia with two (Best Youth Marketing and Best Pan Asian) for its iTalentstar effort.

"We are extremely proud of this achievement, simply because we are the youngest media agency in Singapore, and in the space of two years, this win is a wonderful testament of how good thinking, an energized team and dedication to deliver great work for clients has helped us rise above some big guns that have been dominating the Singapore Media scene over the past few years," Jaswinder Kaur, MD for MediaCom, told Marketing.

Other notable winners include Universal McCann which was recognised in the Best Use of Digital and the Best Strategic Launch categories for GMP's "Raffles Ghost" viral spot.

Awards like the Media Person of the Year, Young Media Person of the Year and Media Sales Person of the Year went to PHD's Pat Lim, OMD's Ariane Goo and JCDecaux's Sabrina Tan, respectively.

This year's SMAs 2008 also recorded a 6% increase in entries from last year, prompting acting SMA 2008 chairman, Gan Boon Guan to say that "the increased number of submissions and the caliber of the winning campaigns is a testament to the critical role media plays in advertising".

Gan's Starcom Media also had reason to celebrate, walking away with the Best Use of Radio and the Best B2B Campaign accolades.

SMA Winners list:
Media Agency Of The Year
MediaCom

Grand Prix Award
Explore Singapore 2007
ZenithOptimedia

Best Use of Digital
The Raffles Ghost GMP Viral & Demand Generation Campaign
Universal McCann

Best Use of Newspapers
Canon EOS Playtime
Dentsu Singapore

Best Use of Outdoor
Tiger Beer Enjoy Winning Campaign
MindShare Singapore

Best Use of Radio
From Myth to Mass Participation
Starcom Media Worldwide

Best B2B Campaign
Oracle for Midsize Companies (ASEAN)
Starcom Media Worldwide

Best Experiential Marketing Campaign
Nokia WiFiZone
MediaCom

Best Integrated Media Campaign
Mitsubishi Lancer EX Launch
Mediaedge:cia Singapore

Best Pan Asian Campaign
Nokia Nseries: iTalentstar
Mediacom

Best Strategic Launch
The Raffles Ghost GMP Viral & Demand Generation Campaign
Universal McCann

Best Value Media Campaign
Explore Singapore 2007
ZenithOptimedia

Best Youth Marketing Campaign
Nokia Nseries: iTalentstar
MediaCom

Media Person of the Year
Pat Lim
PHD Singapore

Young Media Person of
Ariane Goo
OMD Singapore

Media Sales Person of the Year
Sabrina Tan
JCDecaux Singapore

Singapore Media Awards 2008 Tally

 

	Agency	Grand Prix	Winner	Finalist
1	MediaCom		3	4
2	Mediaedge:cia Singapore		1	6
3	ZenithOptimedia	1	1	1
4	Starcom Media Worldwide		2	1
5	MindShare Singapore		1	4
6	Universal McCann		2
7	Dentsu Singapore		1	1
8	OMD Singapore			4
9	Bartle Bogle & Hegarty Asia Pac			2
10	PHD Singapore			1
10	Qais Consulting			1