Now on its 14th year, Media Magazine’s annual Agency of the Year awards, held in Hong Kong last December, saw Asia’s advertising, media, and one-to-one agencies anxiously waiting to be named the best in Asia.
Competition was stiff amongst Ogilvy & Mather, TBWA, BBDO, JWT, McCann, and Publicis. Same with media agencies like MediaCom, MEC, Mindshare, OMD and ZenithOptimedia. Amongst the one-to-one agencies were Ogilvy’s OgilvyOne, BBDO’s Proximity and TBWA’s Tequila. The 2007 Asia Pacific Agency of the Year awards, more than in previous years, was hotly contested.
Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific had reason to celebrate as the network dominated the show for the second consecutive year. Ogilvy was declared Asia’s Network of the Year, supported by its concurrent wins as Creative Agency of the Year (Ogilvy & Mather) and as One-to-One Agency of the Year (OgilvyOne). This year, OgilvyOne was crowned One-to-One Agency of the Year for the fourth time in the past five years.
Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific Chairman Miles Young commented, “2007 saw us continue to set the standard of excellence as we establish Asia as a centre, not a recipient, of global work. Our success is underpinned by recognizing that in the region’s largest agency, the team—our people, their ability to deliver 360 communications solutions across disciplines from advertising to healthcare through to activation and digital and a complete commitment to ideas—is the key to delivering growth and creative, effective work.”
TBWA was a significant winner at the awards with the agency’s Worldwide President Keith Smith named as Regional Agency Head of the Year. Smith won against able rivals, Chris Thomas of BBDO, Mike Amour of Grey, Kevin Clarke of MediaCom, and Paul Heath of Ogilvy.
Smith was credited for taking the youngest network in Asia Pacific from strength to strength, after demonstrating impressive growth in the region and securing a string of high profile new business wins. In addition, TBWA\TEQUILA Singapore won the “Office of the Year” title after winning a raft of new accounts including the global Singapore Airlines business, Sentosa Resorts World and O2, and demonstrating steady growth in performance, people and its product offering.
Filipina Lou Dela Pena, business development director for TBWA\TEQUILA Singapore, won the “Account/Business Development Person of the Year” award, recognized for successfully leading two of the region’s most competitive pitches—Singapore Airlines and Sentosa Resorts World.
On the creative side, the Creative of the Year went to McCann’s Prasoon Joshi, famous for his highly acclaimed Happydent TV commercial. Contenders were BBDO’s David Guerrero, JWT’s Tay Guan Hin, Ogilvy’s Nil Andersson and TBWA’s Andy Blood.
MEC (MediaEdge CIA) was declared Media agency of the Year; Preeter Kumar is Media Planner of the Year; Elaine Ip of OMD is National Head of the Year; Nokia’s Chris Leong is Client Marketer of the Year, and Toyota is Brand of the Year.
At the well-attended formal dinner affair, the selection winners were widely accepted, although a group of ad executives were not convinced with the credentials of this year’s nine-person jury. Made up of a general manager of a food company, a brand communications head of a chain of hotels; a senior manager for marketing of a major car company; a commercial director for a personal care company; the regional director of creative strategy and development for a cola brand; plus the representatives and editors of Haymarket and Media Magazine. Missing, they said, were high-profile marketing and agency heavyweights.
Creative directors familiar with the Asian awards circuit, were puzzled at how Publicis was named runner-up in the Creative Agency of the Year against JWT, TBWA and BBDO. Compared to the contending agencies, Publicis has not figured in any major awards show as long as one can remember. A criteria, it seems, for being named Asia’s best creative agency, said a judge “while awards matter, the winners should be keen on staff development. After all, these big creatives are producing tomorrow’s creatives.” Publicis, in their entry, said that creative growth and innovation growth at the top of their agenda. The proof is should be in the pudding.
