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L’Oreal Singapore calls pitch for $5m media account

French cosmetics behemoth L’Oreal Paris has called a pitch for a media agency in Singapore, putting Carat on alert.

The global beauty brand has issued a tender to the country’s media agencies for the account worth roughly $5 million in billings.

So far, four media players have thrown their hats in the ring: these include the incumbent Carat, Publicis Groupe’s Zenith, plus agencies from Omnicom Media Group and GroupM.

IPG Mediabrands and Havas Media both confirmed they would not be participating.

Dentsu Aegis Network-owned Carat originally won the L’Oreal account in Singapore in 2014 following a face-off with Zenith. At the time, the brand’s media billings were said to be worth around US$8m, according to R3’s pitch list.

The company recently re-awarded the media account to Carat in Australia following a multi-agency pitch.

Unlike its cosmetic conglomerate rivals Unilever and P&G, L’Oreal has indicated less reluctance towards reducing advertising expenditure in the wake of concerns over digital waste and fraud.

In a recent Digiday interview, the company’s Western Europe CMO, Stéphane Bérubé, said the brand intended to spend more on digital ads in 2018, but with an increased focus on private exchanges and direct deals with publishers. 

L’Oreal Singapore was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

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