HONG KONG: Ogilvy & Mather and Mindshare are among the agencies which are held in the highest regard among advertisers in Asia Pacific.
Media, the industry title, produced its Agency Image Survey in partnership with Harris Interactive, the research firm, based on a poll of marketing executives throughout the region.
Ogilvy took first position in the rankings among creative networks, having been placed among the area's top three agencies by 54% of participants.
The WPP-owned company came in ahead of its global rivals Leo Burnett, on 35%, Saatchi & Saatchi, on 27%, and JWT, on 24%.
Ogilvy won new accounts to an estimated value of $263 million (€191m; £168m) in Asia Pacific last year, a figure that stood at $180m for DDB, $168m for EuroRSCG, $150m for Publicis, and $57m for Leo Burnett.
Agencies based primarily in Japan found conditions considerably more challenging, with Asatu-DK seeing revenues tumble by 15%, Dentsu down by 17%, and Hakuhodo off by a similar amount.
Mindshare was pre-eminent among the media specialists, on a score of 59%, with OMD on 38%, ZenithOptimedia delivering a total of 34%, and Universal McCann recording a rating of 33%.
Among the accounts secured last year by Mindshare, which has offices in countries including China, Hong Kong and India, was media chores for Starhub, the Singapore-based communications firm.
OMD enjoyed growth of 30% in Asia Pacific in 2009, with a client retention rate of over 90%, although it did lose some duties from Unilever, the FMCG giant, and PepsiCo, the food and beverage titan.
ZenithOptimedia – which has forecast that adspend will jump by 8.4% in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) in 2010 – acquired $266m of new business over the last 12 months, taking more than 100 accounts in all.
Universal McCann won billings valued at $55m in the same period, while Carat was in fifth in the survey of clients, having performed particularly well in China.
Some 77% of respondents said the work agencies had produced for other brands was the key factor in shaping their overall perceptions, with presentations and pitches from the shops concerned on 70%.
A further 61% cited the "the reputation of the people who work at the agencies", with 58% having formed their views based on what they believed was the consensus in the industry as a whole.
This total stood at 50% for relevant content featured in the national and trade press, and just 22% for conferences and award shows.
