Y&R wears its heart on the ST

Y&R made a bold statement to the public today via a full page ad in The Straits Times, four days after declining to contest for the SingTel account which is currently up for grabs.

The ad features names of famous partnerships between musicians, filmmakers, sportsmen, cartoonists, comedians, songwriters, and last on the list was “SingTel and Y&R”. (I apologise for the crappy picture, any suggestions on how to improve it?)

The list also included the dates for which the partnerships endured but none were as long as that of SingTel and Y&R which was a whopping 19 years.

As with any agency client relationship, there’re always ups and downs and good times and bad times but this ad really does position Y&R as a big-hearted agency which is wishing its client all the best. It doesn’t matter the real motivation behind the ad, the idea is they put their money where their mouth is and forked out money for an expensive ST ad. (Anyone knows how much was spent? Just curious)

SingTel previously maintained Leo Burnett and Y&R as joint incumbents on the above the line responsibilities while below the line work was done by a number of small agencies but consolidated its entire business with Y&R in 2004.

The business came up for pitch on 13 September and don’t hold your breath for 31 December when the 16-week process is supposed to come to an end.

Good luck to BatesAsia, Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather and Leo Burnett – which has a nice advantage over the rest from its past experience with the client I’m sure.

The last time I remember an agency splashed out on a full-page ad for itself was Publicis in December 2004. Many of you may remember how you felt when you opened the papers that morning and gasped when you saw the ad asking for a meeting with SIA’s CEO Chew Choon Seng. I remember it was timed to coincide with a visit from a Publicis boss – was it Maurice Levy?

The Straits Times and Today both carried stories on how SIA was less than impressed with the stunt.