Marina Bay Sands selects Dentsu for media business

The business’ exact worth is unclear, although it was estimated at US$15 million when awarded to Starcom in May 2010.

The latest RFP was called mid-July 2011 and some agencies told Campaign that they would not be pitching for the business.

One network head said that MBS had approached them about working together on a project by project basis. “It made no sense for us to commit resources to business that would be intermittent,” he said.

Incumbent Starcom, upon the expiry of their contract with Marina Bay Sands, chose not to pitch for the business due to “strategic differences” according to a source. It was also confirmed that OMD had declined the pitch.

The regional account was previously handled by Mindshare Singapore which had overseen the business for a year after being appointed in February 2009.

Constant changes client-side at MBS have been criticised by creative and media agencies alike. Riad Shalaby was the latest marketing head to move on, having recently replaced Lucinda Semark who is now with Carlson.

Neither Dentsu nor Marina Bay Sands were able to comment at the present time.