One of Asia’s most massive media pitches was decided in early February, when Globe Telecom awarded its US$40 million Media Agency of Record assignment to the incumbent, Universal McCann. The assignment was won in pitch against Mindshare and Zenith Optimedia. Brands covered included Globe Handyphone, Globe Broadband, and TouchMobile. adobo sat down with UM’s Venus Navalta, an industry pillar and former 4As President, for a post-pitch chat.
“It’s a difficult business. But we really are the only agency with this much telco experience. We acquired and launched Smart in 1993; six months after resigning that we got Globe, and kept it as other telcos jumped from one agency to the next. That’s 15 years; we know well the industry and the difficulties of managing it.
It’s a very demanding business. The telco wars may be over, but now the market is saturated and consumers extremely price-savvy. There’s still room for growth, but it’s more … difficult. (She laughs, a laugh rich with relief and emotion that says more than any words could.)
UM’s press release cites two factors in the win: the proprietary UM tool Curiosity, and “creative negotiation intelligence,” which can be read as referring to UM’s media buying might.
‘Curiosity’ is a tool we launched two years ago, but the global team sharpened it. We had tons of quantitative data, but we analyzed it differently to come up with new solutions.
On the negotiation, everyone had their own strategies. I have to credit our media partners (networks and broadsheets). I think we are well-loved in this market, and they’ll be fair about what is possible and what is not. We pushed them, and they responded.
Unlike other pitches where incumbents field all-new teams, UM mixed old and new faces and kept its team small. Experts from the region flew in, to find fresh angles in boilerplate Filipino insights like “barkada.” But it was not easy.
We had only four weeks; I had a fever and cough that wouldn’t go away. But I couldn’t stop working, and long hours too. So I just overdosed on any cold medicine that anyone else was buying.
Then there were the rumors. As the incumbent, we were already on the defensive. We heard we had been elimi-nated, then that [another huge client] would be pitched. People concoct all sorts of stories at those times, maybe that’s why Globe announced the shortlist. But we couldn’t let that affect us; we had to keep morale up and stay strong, in more ways than one.
When the win did come, Navalta was not even at work, having left town to recuperate. McCann President Ricki Arches took Globe’s call; Venus found out only when she checked her phone to find 30 text messages and eight calls.
It was very joyful, very emotional. Even before the clients could say anything, people were hugging and literally jumping for joy — and posting the photos on Facebook! Even our regional people were thrilled. Especially because it felt like a battle of the big three (Interpublic, WPP and Publicis). It was a good fight.
We’ve been doing defen-sive pitches for three years. In 2007, we successfully defended J&J in the region, representing the entire Inter-public Group against Carat Thailand and O&M’s regional media. Unfortunately that didn’t happen with Coke, but it happened here, and for that we’re thankful.
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