| Which office are you based out of? | |
|---|---|
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Shanghai |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Leo Burnett Shanghai |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | Singapore |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Shanghai |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Shanghai |
| What is your staff size and how has that changed over the last 3 years? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Around 200 staffs in China, I just joined for 6 months but the company size has been shrinking in the last few years. |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | 2 regular employees, 2 interns |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | Now approximately 50 staff over four offices, majority co-located in Singapore. This has approximately doubled- and I have not always been co-located with my team. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | 2 Associate Account Directors and two Account Executives. Remain the same for the past years. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | 100. Yes, it has decreased from 160 to 100. |
| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Agencies - account service, strategic planning, broad ranged of account experience - FMCG, hospitality, telecommunications, retail, banking and finance...etc Client - mainly telecommunications, technology and new media |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | I have regional experience both in regional and traditional planning handling brands from fmcg to luxury brands, automobiles to technology brands. I handled them all. |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | I have always worked in agencies (Large multinationals). I have worked many categories- airline, automotive, finance - but beauty and FMCG is where I have spent the bulk of my time. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Brand and Digital. Started advertising career in Ogilvy while in Malaysia. Moved to Shanghai 6 years ago. Worked on automotive, hospitality, pharmaceutical, skin care, FMCG client, and so on. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | I started my career with Leo Burnett in 2002 and have been with the agency for 10 years, as an Account Service of different positions, working on brands like McDonald's, Siemens Home Appliance, Sport brands (Li-Ning, Anta, Under Armour), P&G, etc. I have also worked at TBWA\ and DDB. |
| What has been your role in the new business and organic growth efforts of the agency? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Management role - driving office managers to grow new business, tune the staffs to have winning mentalities, set the direction of prospect clients who we go after. Leadership - directly engage with major clients and lead new business pitch |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Leading the strategic and business solutions developments for existing, new and pitch clients. As well as organically growing the digital team from the bottom up. |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | In my new role (since Feb 2015) I need to investigate new avenues of organic growth with my present client. My predominant focus to date has been on brand building activities with a secondary focus on organic growth. This is shifting-- hence why I'm here on this course!! |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | New business pitches. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | New Business - I am usually the first person clients get in touch with, by phone or face-to-face in a credentials presentation. After understanding the brief, I will decide if we should pursue, designate an Account Service Team and Planner, and be one of the decision-makers in the strategic and creative review process. Organic Growth - I am the initiator and key driver, working with my Business Directors, to sell new services to clients. |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 1. An agency focus on driving both creative and effective works for clients. 2. A Humankind agency who always aim to reach for the stars. 3. An agency with young and aggressive teams want to win. |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Simple, humble, great people to work with |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | I would like to be able to say "we're a global networked "small/ boutique" agency. Meaning that we are smart, big and provide scale, but we can also act swiftly and be nimble for any challenge. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | - We are an agency with long heritage of creating iconic brands like Malboro's cowboy, Mc'Donalds..etc - Our belief is humankind, that everything begins and ends with people and behaviors. - We put people first. We are composed of diverse talents that are truly integrated and international. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Leo Burnett is a HumanKind company that understands and changes people's behavior through acts, not ads. The Shanghai office is the flagship office in China, and has abundant amount of support from APAC and China leadership, which gives you access to more senior resources in our network. We are a fully integrated agency that has a very simple and nimble structure, without any silos by expertise or media. |
| List the top few agencies that you do/will compete against most often: | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 1. JWT 2. Saatchi 3. DDB 4. O&M |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Tbwa, saatchi, ogilvy |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | This has changed suddenly. It used to be big agencies who have always had P&G business- like Grey, Saatchi & Saatchi. But now its also any other agency ( like BBDO) and also smaller shops and specialist shops like HUGE. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | - Ogilvy - Mccan - TBWA |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Ogilvy, McCann, JWT, DDB, TBWA, Saatchi |
| In the eyes of clients, what do you provide of value, that none of your competitors do? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Probably not, client pretty much see us the same. |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | We have an integrated strategic planning experience both tradiional and digital in both regional and local level |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | On my brand-- Thorough and deep brand knowledge, high beauty knowledge and experience. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Strong global and APAC network |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | I believe there are only very subtle differences among the agencies in China. |
| In the eyes of clients, what do your competitors provide of value, that you do not? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | We are not digitise enough |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Multidisciplinary Sub-Agencies |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | Nimbleness. Competitors can move significantly faster than us. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Digital edge |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | I believe there are only very subtle differences among the agencies in China. |
| Are there any negative perceptions about the agency that might hold your new business efforts back? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Frequent change of management, lost many clients (and naturally people) last year, still in the rebuilding stage |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Yes, previously loosing business and not winning new businesses |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | Yes- quite a bit of baggage actually. That we are slow, expensive. That we are not truly skilled in some of the areas we have gotten into (e.g.digital) |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Being too "traditional" |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | We are traditional. We change management often, which shows a lack of stability on people working on the accounts. |
| What are top 2 or 3 trends you see in terms of how clients are interacting with agencies in your market? What most makes clients unique in your market? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 1. Using procurement to lead pitches with marketing stay in behind 2. Secretly aligned with a friendly agency but invited other agencies to pitch as a official process. |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | 1) Clients are not more demanding in terms of what the agency can offer. It's not just about communications but providing a complete business solutions. 2) Clients are also looking for more value in terms of what else can the agenh offer beyond the usual marketing communications. |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | 1. My clients are increasing the amount of "experimentation" they are doing. Investing meaningful amounts of money to try new content, new activation idea. 2. Mobile first is a priority so any agency that can prove that they truly 'get' mobile are being entertained. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | - Social buzz and marketing - Customers activation oriented - 020 marketing |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Trend 1- Marketing becomes the lead agency and drives the integration process, working with multiple agencies Trend 2 - The demands are always faster, cheaper, better. Trend 3 - Less respect for agencies. Marketing can do what agencies do. Unique - Clients from mainland China tend to be less sophisticated due to lack of training and title-inflation. |
| How has most new business come into the agency (i.e., competitive reviews/RFPs, proactive prospecting, organic growth, referrals, etc.)? How many competitive reviews/RFPs have you pursued over the past 2 years? How many did you win? Please explain. | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | In my 6 months in China, most new business leads are coming from personal contacts/referrals, some from RFPs, we have not yet aggressively done proactive prospecting |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Usually thru RFP's, Referrals and global alignment. In the last two years, around 10 pitches which I have won 8 of them. Clients are now looking for integrated plans and ideas, which defines the winning idea. |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | In my role its organic growth. But the nature by which the "organic" growth is coming to the agency is dramatically changing. It now needs to be prospected. Its needs a plan, a focus area, understanding of the business and capabilities to back up new proposals. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | - RFPs - Global network 3, none so far. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Mostly referrals, and knowing our creative work in the past. Participated in around 16 pitches and have 2 (both for Uni-President). We have changed creative leadership twice in 15 months. We don't have enough resources and time to fully prepare for the pitch. Particularly, last year, we were not selective enough on which pitches we should participate in. |
| Please explain how your particular client roster is made up of multi-national vs. local clients. What is the current situation and what are your goals moving forward? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Majority is MNC but local clients has a lot more potential and this is where we are going to. |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Generally, my clients are internarional multinational clients, foreign brands that what to expand in China. The other side, I handle local clients who want to expand globally. |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | this question is not applicable to me in my currently role as I head up one of the MNC. In the agency, I know that my MNC is 70- 75%. As an agency we all want to shift MNC to be 40% with local clients making up 60%. But I also need to focus on growing my MNC. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Local Marketing team with foreign bosses. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Multi-national (Leo Burnett global clients) - McDonald's, Pfizer (2 brands) - 60% of revenue Local - Hilton, Bosch, LensCrafters, Uni-President (4 brands) |
| Please explain how your office is currently experiencing AOR vs. project-based client work? Are you seeing a shift? What are the biggest challenges you’re experiencing? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 80% is AOR |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Less mature clients tend to be more be more under project based as there's less security in their business and mature clients in retainer fee because they need consistent expertise in managing their business |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | Within my MNC client we have a component of the business that is AOR/ fee based and another component that is project work. The trend is for the fees to decrease year on year- with the client wanting us to maintain the same level of work (more for less). And also for more project work to be happening. One of the biggest challenges is in capabilities. It is a different skill set to prospect for projects compared with completing deliverables on the list ( paid for by the fees). |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Lack of Creative resources. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Hilton and Bosch are project-based, but we are the only agency on the roster. We do get more RFPs for projects, but recently, we only pursue those that do not require a pitch. Finding quality, scalable AOR clients. |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do your presentations back up the agency’s recommendation with an irrefutable logic trail? In other words, how well do you typically build a strong argument for the agency’s recommendation? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 7 |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | 9 |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | 7 |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | 8 |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | 6 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you build your presentations around a new and unexpected strategic consumer insight vs. a predictable consumer insight? In other words, how well do you always have something brand new to share about the client's target audience? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 5 |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | 8 |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | 8 |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | 7 |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | 4 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you build your presentations around a new and unexpected creative/concept/program/tactical idea? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 5 |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | 7 |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | 6 |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | 6 |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | 5 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you demonstrate the business impact of your recommendations? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 5 |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | 8 |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | 7 |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | 7 |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | 2 |
| Bottom line, what do you think the agency most has to do to improve at new business? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | 1. Senior management involvement 2. More proactive prospecting 3. Across office, stronger mentality in new business growth |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Hiring more experienced people and equip them with resources (people and tools) to do their job better. |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | In my team- I need to get the right people in to the right roles. We need entrepreneurial, smart people who can also "GSD" ( get shit done). We need to take our understanding of the client business to the next level and then provide proactive inspirational thought leadership that translates swiftly in to effective work that works. |
| Elsze Lee Group Account Director | Strong Strategy and Creativity. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | A more strategic and disciplined way to approach prospective clients and to work on pitches. |
| Any advice for us as we prepare the training program for you? | |
| Danny Mok, LB China CEO | Please, make it more China relevant |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | Please read through what I shared and it will be best if these issues can be addressed during the training |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | I really hope that you provide some real tangible practical tools that I can implement immediately. ( whether this/ these be a framework, a process, a checklist- something to help immediately ). I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that the pressure is really on to drive new avenues of growth. It would be great if you as the trainers understood this pressure and looked through the lens of 'need for immediate action' when delivering the course. Im looking forward to it!! |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | While the management team also needs training, I would really like more participation and input from my second line, i.e. Business Directors and Account Directors. |
| Overall (and as you consider the questions above), what do you believe most holds back the effectiveness of your client and new business presentations? | |
| Sonny Miguel Tan, Strategic Planning Director | miss communications, inexperienced people both from agency and client side and lack of actual people to management the business |
| Melissa Hill Global Brand Agency Leader ( P&G business) | I would say being able to demonstrate effectiveness of the recommendations/ doemonstrate the business impact in a way that is tangible., measurable. We struggle with the missing link between the creative we produce and where this is then place by the media company. |
| Angie Wong, General Manager | Lack of convincing measurement that can quantify the effectiveness of the work. Lack of strategic thought leadership. |