Asia Pacific Breweries appoints Zenith Optimedia as media agency

The account was awarded following a competitive pitch process that saw incumbent Mindshare, MPG, Carat and Zenith Optimedia vie for the brewery's portfolio of brands.

“We look forward to a strong partnership with Zenith who will be a core part of our integrated marketing teams delivering media neutral solutions that will deliver clear brand results”, said Wong Mei Wai, head of commercial marketing at APBS.

The review of the business, worth an estimated US$11.2 million, was conducted in two phases. The first phase called for agencies to submit agency credentials including their profile, past work, consumer insights and securing team resources. The second phase saw the agencies being evaluated on their strategic thinking in workshops where management executives were excluded.

“This review was centred around getting strong talent on the business. We are pleased to get all the agencies’ cooperation to front their working team, and to avoid all the usual bells and whistles,” added R3’s principal Goh Shu Fen.

Goh told Campaign that excluding senior management from the second phase was to avoid agencies bringing out star talent for the pitch that will probably not work on the account once it has been secured.

She said that as the successful agency would be expected to hit the ground running, all parties pitching for the business were told they had to have the manpower in place already - rather than hiring sufficient staff once the pitch was won.