The pitch of the year is done. Local oil giant Petron has selected DDB, McCann and incumbent Saatchi as its three creative agencies, after three rounds that began with credentials presentations in mid-2008.
The account is prized not only for its large media budget (est. US$10 million when it was awarded to Starcom in July 2008), but for its purely local structure and precedent of award-winning work.
Commenting on the choice, Petron’s VP for Marketing Charmaine Canillas said the business had been awarded on the basis of “strategy and creativity. And of course the creativity had to be in line with the strategy.” Agency fees were also a consideration, she said.
Account assignments were not released at press time, but Canillas said that the business was evenly split, with all three agencies handling business across Petron’s divisions.
Winning agencies were naturally elated. Commenting on his agency’s win of ‘major creative duties,’ McCann-Erickson Managing Director Nandy Villar said, “[It] is a triumph of both strategy and creativity for [us]. The briefs for both rounds were very challenging and for a non-incumbent like us, we had to go through an intensive learning experience which has now paid off. Add to that our heavyweight competitors; this win is very sweet for McCann indeed.”
DDB’s Susan Dimacali was equally ecstatic. “This is the first time DDB came up against the big boys,” she said. “It’s a very important win for us.” Contrary to rumors of a planned consolidation, Dimacali said that Petron had announced from the beginning its intention to retain three agencies.
Twelve agencies had been invited to present credentials, resulting in a shortlist of eight: BBDO Guerrero, Black Pencil, DDB, McCann, Publicis JimenezBasic, and incumbents Leo Burnett, Lowe and Saatchi. This moved into a last round of five agencies earlier in March. In accordance with 4As policy, Petron paid pitch fees to all eight agencies that made the shortlist.
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