TBWA's Family Pitch Is Winning Factor

Source : The Business Times, August 27, 2007

'Chemistry' also helps it land Resorts World at Sentosa account: MD

Mr Paris: 'What we do for our clients is we look at what's holding them back. We're looking to access that slip between conventions and vision'

DAN Paris is clearly a family man.

The managing director of advertising agency TBWA Group Singapore whipped out pictures of his son with obvious pride during an interview with BT. His irrepressible enthusiasm was equally apparent when he talked ebulliently about TBWA recently beating four other agencies to land the Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) advertising account, estimated to be worth $70 million over the next three years.

'Clients look for certain things. If you're taking a long-term partnerd, you need someone for the long journey, it's a marriage. Building trust right from the start is critical,' said Mr Paris, citing 'chemistry' as one of the main factors that helped the firm land the account. 'It's really important for the client to buy into an agency they believe in. This is about creating a brand that's going to live for a long time.'

Talk of family and relationships proved to be a recurring theme. The pitch for RWS - which Mr Paris described as an attempt to capture the imagination of a family audience - clearly struck a chord, especially since, as he put it, 'families, the world over, have the same motivation'.

The advertising campaign will be targeting countries in the region such as China, India, Malaysia and the Philippines, but TBWA is also eyeing emerging markets such as the Middle East and Russia.

The RWS campaign will focus on both traditional and digital channels and Mr Paris highlighted the importance of the digital world in marketing today. 'The online domain is a great place to explore. I'm quite interested to see what kind of work we're able to do in that area,' he said.

TBWA, which also clinched the Singapore Airlines (SIA) account in April, is a part of Omnicom Group Inc and the Singapore set-up is one of 258 offices in 75 locations such as New York, London and China. TBWA Worldwide recently opened an office in Vietnam last year and has been expanding rapidly in China and India.

TBWA Singapore counts M1, Standard Chartered and of course, SIA, among its clients, which begs the (multi) million dollar question: Is the Singapore Girl going to undergo a complete makeover? 'There's lasting timeliness and glory to the way the Singapore Girl represents the airline. I don't see anything wrong with it. There's nothing broken,' he said with a laugh.

TBWA's role will be to help SIA stay in the forefront, not 'only in terms of emotional space but delivery and brand performance as well', he said. With SIA's first commercial flight of the A380 coming up in October this year, the freshened-up Singapore Girl might be making an appearance soon enough. 'I would expect us to look at some sort of support around the launch,' he said.

Looking forward, one of the biggest problems that Mr Paris expects to face is finding the right people. 'We're always on the lookout for the very best. I want the very best people working on the right clients so they're all enjoying themselves and so the client loves their team.' Still, he reckoned that the flourishing economy will prove a powerful draw with regards to attracting talent to Singapore, but he also emphasised that the company will continue to groom talent from within.

TBWA works on the philosophy of disruption and connection, not just in Singapore but in their various offices across the globe. 'We live in a world of conventions. What we do for our clients is we look at what's holding them back. We're looking to access that slip between conventions and vision,' he said. The firm's recent wins suggest they are on the right track.