MANILA, FEBRUARY 27, 2013 – Long time cellar dweller media agency Carat Philippines has come a long way in less than a year when it won Agency of the Year (Bronze) in the Campaign Southeast Asia meet held at Singapore last December.
Launched in 1998, Carat remained at the bottom of the ladder until 2011 and as a result was hardly ever invited by advertisers to pitch for their media business.
Carat kicked off 2012 revitalized with Angelito “BoyP” Pangilinan as the new CEO, in collaboration with Gladys Basinillo as general manager; both bringing strong credentials in the market, hailing from leading agencies and with solid client relationships built through many years in the business.
To create a roadmap for success, the entire staff, old and new from business unit heads to rank and file bought into the re-engineered company’s vision. Investments were made to create a massive consumer database while simultaneously deploying planning tools available from the Aegis Worldwide network.
In less than six months, the new leadership was able to bring in a top advertiser – the Lucio Tan Group of Companies with interests in beverages, beer, rhum, airlines, banks and real estate. The presentation on the revitalized agency’s capabilities along with the ability to optimize their advertising budgets resulted in a major advertiser, CDO Foodsphere, moving to Carat without a pitch.
To date, Carat’s revenue has more than doubled showing a profit for the first time in 13 years. From the bottom of the ladder, RECMA currently rates Carat #3 in Qualitative Evaluation of media agencies in the Philippines.
Carat ranked #1 in R3’s list of fastest growing agencies in the country, topping business wins for December 2012. And in winning the much-coveted Media Agency of the Year award alongside the big boys, Carat would like to send the message that indeed, "a new play has arrived…”
