Ikea announces pitch for SE Asia creative business – incumbent BBH in the fray
Ikea South East Asia has put its creative business up for pitch. The invitation has been extended to the incumbent BBH Singapore which was appointed in 2013.
Ever since, BBH has been the lead agency on the brand, running integrated communications in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as supporting localisation of campaigns across the region.
Speaking about the pitch, Ikea South East Asia head of marketing Nigel Richardson said: “Marketing communication – from advertising to social media and more – is constantly evolving and shifting how we view the world. We love to experiment and innovate. That’s why an agency review is just a normal part of our internal process.
“We have had an excellent working relationship with BBH for the last six years and are proud of the memorable campaigns we launched together. We look forward to a competitive pitching process to see the fresh ideas that BBH and other parties bring to the table.”
BBH Singapore CEO John Hadfield said: “We understand and respect the decision to conduct a statutory pitch process. We are hugely proud of the work, outcomes and relationships that we have built with the IKEA team over the past six years and are fully committed to renewing these.”
Ikea launched in India last year, hiring Dentsu Impact as its creative agency. After a pitch for the China business in which BBH, the incumbent did not participate, Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai was announced the winner last September and signing a two year contract.
…why would you participate in this pitch to give away a load of IP for nothing knowing you’re very unlikely to win.
There really is very little integrity from “marketers” when it comes to account reviews and pitching.
People lose sleep over these pitches, people lose jobs, agencies invest (lose) money, they share their best work only for it to be lifted.
The whole thing is toxic – even when it’s seemingly done with the best intentions.
ReplyFrom the sidelines it BBH has done some fantastic work for IKEA in the past few years. It’s a shame when there’s mandatory pitches, even when the work is consistently good. Pitching is a waste of time — just push your agency to hire and retain talented people.
ReplyWith perspective, the work of late is a far cry from the best IKEA has ever done….locally.
ReplyGood luck to all.
The day any agency wins a pitch is just a day closer to eventually losing it.
Partnership?
It’s like what one IKEA chipwood panel said to another panel: ‘Get ready to get screwed!’
anyone who actually believes IKEA has any intention of dropping BBH or vice versa is absolutely delusional. The fact that Hadfield even made a statement should be an obvious enough tell that this is just them taking the piss at their non-existent competition.
ReplyAgreed….it will be a dumb and eventually poorer agency that
Replywill enter this pre-arranged outcome.
Did your guys (I’m guessing it’s mainly guys) not get invited?
ReplyCan’t exactly be invited when I’m not in the region any more kid. But good luck being one of the embarrassing hopefuls who dream of winning this so they won’t have to work on lame accounts anymore and eventually resort to begging and cutting costs out of desperation to even stand a chance of being considered for second place pity scraps.
ReplyHave your say