Asia Pacific Breweries said on August 12 it has awarded the local Tiger Beer creative advertising account to BBDO Singapore after a four-way pitch. APB decided in June to review Tiger's creative agency as it evaluated its position in the market. 'With a sense of greater buoyancy in the market, Tiger felt that this would be the right time to build for the future and further strengthen its position as Singapore's No 1 beer,' said APB's assistant general manager (marketing) Lester Tan. 'The search was for a new agency with a fresh perspective to take us to the next level.'

Four agencies - BBDO, Leo Burnett, M&C Saatchi and Y&R - were invited last month to pitch for the account. 'We were looking for creative concepts that were consumer-driven and could be translated into a campaign with scalability and endurance to bring the brand to new heights,' Mr Tan said.

BBDO, which has done campaigns for KFC, Pizza Hut, Mitsubishi Motors, ABC Stout and ICI Dulux, clinched the account after going through a selection process that comprised one round of agency interviews and two rounds of presentations.

Mr Tan said APB 'felt that BBDO recognised Tiger's strengths and its multi-discipline approach, and demonstrated all-round strength in interpretation and implementation of strategy, understanding of the beer market and creative ability'. BBDO takes over from APB's former agency for Tiger Beer, DDB Worldwide.

BBDO, with a successful track record in promoting ABC Extra Stout, was also appointed in March as the advertising agency for Baron's Strong Brew, distributed by APB. The agency starts its appointment on Sept 1 and will work with Mindshare, APB's media agency which is handling media buy. The entire Tiger Beer Singapore account, comprising both the creative and media aspects, is worth $20 million.

14 August, 2004