China search underdog Sogou.com calls creative pitch

A 4A agency source told Campaign Asia-Pacific that the client issued the invitiation a week ago.

The search engine portal, a subsidiary of Sohu.com, which can search text, images, music, and maps. It was launched in August 2004.

Last August, Sohu sold 16 per cent of Sogou to Alibaba Group, parent company of Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com. Another 16 per cent was sold to a fund invested by Sohu chairman Charles Zhang, leaving Sohu holding the remaining 68 per cent.

According to iResearch China, search engine revenues reached US$860 million (RMB5.50 billion) in Q1 2012, 68.2 per cent higher than the same period last year. However, Baidu dominates in the market, with 77.6 per cent share, followed by Google with 17.8 per cent and Sogou a distant third with 2.7 per cent.