Ogilvy loses SmarTone to TBWA Hong Kong

TBWA Hong Kong won the business after the mobile provider called a competitive pitch at the end of 2015, and officially won the creative AOR assignment in February.

“Throughout the pitch, TBWA showed their strength beyond a creative agency, establishing themselves as a strategic partner by providing 360° communication solutions to meet our business needs,” said Josephine Lam, head of marketing and sales at SmarTone.

It was a “rigorous and extensive” pitch, added Jan Cho, general manager of TBWA Hong Kong. The agency offered not just traditional creative services, but a hybrid scope of work with digital and social capabilities, he emphasised.

“I daresay that the way we set up digital and social is very different from other agencies," Cho said. "We don’t have different P&Ls, so there’s a lot of efficiency that ensures the output is presented without silos to the client.”

Campaign Asia-Pacific has reached out to Ogilvy for comment.