The Petron pitch saga continues. Eight agencies have been briefed, following a credentials-based ‘short’listing in November 2008.
New suitors are BBDO Guerrero, Blackpencil, DDB, McCann, and Publicis JimenezBasic; incumbents Burnett, Lowe and Saatchi will defend or try to enlarge their share. It is not clear yet whether it will be winner-take-all, or whether Petron will choose to retain its present three-agency system.
Why all this effort for an account you may have to share? Because even though the $10 million media account is with Starcom, there’s still a lot to go around. One agency head not involved in the pitch (because he handles a competitor) puts it succinctly: “It’s big and it’s local.” Even more attractive, Petron has actually run some award-winning ads in the past.
More in the mix: San Miguel has just acquired an option to buy a majority stake in Petron – and the local corporate giant has never been known for a hands-off approach to its investments’ advertising.
