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Carat Wins Agency of the Year at Media Awards 2012

Carat won Agency of the Year at the 2012 Irish Media Awards last night. The agency also picked up two other golds and one bronze.

According to the citation from the judges of the Agency of the Year award, "the judges were unanimous in their decision in this category. The submission was well structured and answered the brief extremely well and in particular the added value services and bespoke tools offered to clients stood out. The level of contribution to the industry in general was also a key success factor."

Carat also picked up a gold in the Best Use of Media category for its work with client FBD while it also won the Best Research Initiative for work with UPC.

Source: Adworld

http://www.adworld.ie/news/read/?id=f41a5962-652a-46b0-ac5d-f14e4a89dfb6

GM's media-buying firm expected to bring 200 jobs to Detroit

Carat, which is owned by the London-headquartered Aegis Group, is opening an office on the 23rd floor of One Detroit Center.

When the automaker was looking for a firm to handle its global media-buying, it wanted an agency that would be located near its headquarters and be "part of the fabric of the city," in GM marketing chief Joel Ewanick's words.

"We think it's even more important to show this commitment right now," Ewanick said. "We know what it's like to have friends come and help us when we're going through hard times, and we want to be that kind of good citizen right now. We understand how much work this is, fixing the city. We're not going to wilt away from that."

This comes as Detroit's financial crisis comes to a head, amid a faceoff between Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder over the best path to restore solvency.

But Martin Cass, president of Carat Global Management, who oversees the Detroit office, is hopeful.

"There's definitely a sense of buzz, a sense of revival," he said. "I hope the political elements get sorted out, and we can all get on with life."

Carat to handle all of GM's media buying needs
Once the media-buying focus for car companies was on local newspaper, radio and TV advertising. Today, it's global -- a consumer in Milan, Italy, can watch a Californian's video car review on YouTube.

As media platforms multiply, General Motors wants to take better advantage and has decided to streamline its approach and use just one marketing company, called Carat, as it pushes more into the social-media realm of advertising.

Detroit will benefit from the move as Carat brings 200 new employees to the city and rents office space downtown in One Detroit Center on Woodward.

The car company had been using approximately 50 firms around the world to deal with this vital part of its marketing-PR campaign, but now, one agency will handle it all.

Carat says on its website that it's the world's leading independent media planning and buying specialist.

A division of Aegis Group in Britain, Carat has worked with GM since 2007, handling Chevrolet in Europe, Opel and Vauxhall, according to Martin Cass, president of Carat Global Management.

"We should've done this global review and global integration 10 years ago," said GM marketing chief Joel Ewanick. "Most companies our size have already gone through this. We're late to the party. ... It's not only a money decision, but it allows us as a marketing organization to be more efficient at how we look at our buying, our best practices."

He wouldn't say how much money this consolidation will save, but Peter De Lorenzo, editor-in-chief of Autoextremist.com, estimates it'll be 15% to 18% of the company's total media-buying costs. "Realistically, when it's running on all cylinders, they could be saving 20%," he added.

Carat opened its Detroit office about two weeks ago. Cass explained it'll be "100% loaded" with the projected 200-plus new employees by mid-April.

GM is the firm's largest client. Cass has been traveling the globe -- Hong Kong, Argentina, Germany -- to get the organizational structures of GM and Carat aligned.

"The planning element and strategy element of what we do will have a very significant impact on how GM goes to market," he said. "The way you see commercials for Chevrolet and Cadillac will start to look different -- not just what it says, but how the brand behaves in the global ecosystem we all live in today.

"We're touching 100 markets around the world, and we'll be handling north of $2.5 billion of advertising and marketing investment on their behalf," he said.

De Lorenzo called the Carat move "a good thing" overall for GM.

"I refer to the media-buying opportunities as a kaleidoscope," De Lorenzo said. "There are so many possible media platforms to take advantage of, thanks to the immediacy of social media that it has changed the game dramatically.

"Having one agency instead of 50, even though the transition will probably be chaotic, it will prove to be better in the long haul."

De Lorenzo expects it to take three years to "see the full potential" of this move.

For GM, the move wasn't just to one agency, but also to Detroit itself.

"GM makes its home in the RenCen downtown. We all drive in to downtown. We all live and breathe and work in the RenCen. We felt it was important our agencies have that same commitment to the city," Ewanick said.

Starcom MediaVest handled GM's media-buying in the U.S. since 2006, according to Ewanick, and it also opened an office in Detroit.

Source: www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012203180435

Aegis Media Announces CEO for Carat Asia Pacific

Singapore, 15 March, 2012: Nick Waters, CEO Aegis Media APAC, has announced today the appointment of Sean O’Brien as CEO of Carat Asia Pacific. Currently Chief Client Officer of Aegis Media, Sean will assume his new position immediately.

Sean joined Aegis Media in September 2010 to take on the leadership of Aegis Media’s multinational clients in the region, including Nokia, adidas, Philips, Beiersdorf and Fox, as well as hold responsibility for new business development across Asia Pacific. During his time as CCO he helped steer growth across Carat’s international business, won regional clients Expedia, Air Asia and Clarins, and worked with his team to retain BDF and Pernod Ricard in multiple markets.

Apart from healthy new business development, Sean continued to build a strong team by attracting senior talent in Singapore and Hong Kong, and developing indepth client servicing capabilities to drive further growth. It was also a year of expanding the company’s bespoke Consumer Connection Study across the region, pushing it into 12 countries, and launching Aevolve, a specialist business providing analytics, econometrics and research to clients.
With this track record, Sean was the perfect choice to lead Carat across Asia Pacific. He will take charge of over 1,900 people in 35 offices across 15 countries, and report directly to Nick Waters.

"Sean is a proven international operator around the globe, with extensive Asian experience. Since joining Aegis Media he has brought great focus to our multinational clients and contributed significantly to our new business success. Carat has good momentum in Asia Pacific and will build on that under Sean's leadership,” Nick said.

“In the last 15 months we have made four regional agency leadership appointments: Jean Lin (Isobar), Ruth Stubbs (iProspect), Seth Grossman (Vizeum), and now Sean at Carat. These are four outstanding leaders in the Asian market, and will work closely together to drive Aegis Media forward,” he added.

"I am delighted to have been asked to take on this role. Carat is a great brand that pioneered the media independent category and has continued to redefine the role of the media agency in driving business value for our clients. There is enormous potential for growth in this region and I believe that we have the strategy, the operating model and the necessary investments in place in talent, insights, digital and analytics to help our clients take advantage of it,” Sean said.

For further information, please contact:

Joy Clark, Aegis Media, Public Relations
Tel: +61 415 266 228
Joy.Clark@aemedia.com

Adil Zaim Named CEO of Carat China

Shanghai 14 March, 2012: KF Lee, CEO Aegis Media Greater China, has announced today the appointment of Adil Zaim as CEO of Carat China. Adil takes up the appointment following the announcement yesterday of Seth Grossman being appointed CEO of Vizeum APAC.

For over 15 years, Adil has worked in the media industry across multiple roles in strategic planning, digital, insights and trading. During this time he has been based in the Greater China region with over 6 years of experience in mainland China.

He joined Aegis Media China as Executive Vice President of Strategic Resources in 2010. Adil enhanced and integrated Aegis Media’s products and services leading to the rapid growth of Aegis’ agencies in China over the past 2 years. His resourcefulness directly resulted in meeting and exceeding client expectations and business growth.

“With Adil’s background and extensive multiple roles in the media industry, it is our ambition to reinvent our media products to give clients greater accountability in the new convergent media environment. Under Adil’s leadership, we will further integrate Carat China’s on-line and off-line operations, and we are very excited about the opportunities ahead of us by providing diversified and integrated services,” KF Lee said.

Michelle Lau, COO Aegis Media China, added, “Adil has demonstrated leadership through integrity, commitment and knowledge. He is a strong team player who has the respect of his colleagues and his clients, and we will look forward to him taking Carat China to the next level.”

On being offered the opportunity to lead Carat China Adil said, “We have the best talent and resources, and I am looking forward to the challenge of transforming Carat China into a more diverse, innovative and efficient agency that exceeds client expectations in a challenging media environment.”

Clients of Carat China include Nokia, adidas, Pfizer and Philips.

For further information, please contact:

Joy Clark, Aegis Media, Public Relations
Tel: +61 415 266 228
Joy.Clark@aemedia.com

Mitchells officially moves in with Carat

UK-based Aegis Media, ”the world’s fastest growing marketing communications group”, bought Mitchell Communication Group in June last year for AU$363 million. And Carat and Mitchell have now officially been brought together in New Zealand, with around 70 staff from a variety of businesses now beavering away in a new Parnell office.

The move has doubled the size of Carat to make it the number five media agency in New Zealand by billings and, with digital agency Catch! Media, PR agency Haystac, brand experience agency Synergy and promotional marketers Apollo now all in house and adding to the likes of Isobar, Vizeum and iProspect, Aegis Media Pacific’s chief executive Luke Littlefield, who is currently in Auckland, says this move makes it one of the most diverse marketing communications groups in New Zealand.

He says the changes give it “significant brand definition” and, not surprisingly, he is confident it will lead to major growth in this market.

“It’s a growth story,” he says. “We’ll aggressively chase growth. We believe we should grow. We believe the market should grow. And we believe clients should should spend more.”

Before two became one, Carat and Mitchells were each at around number nine or ten on the ladder, according to Aegis Media New Zealand’s managing director of media, Robert Harvey, who was appointed as the leader of Carat at the end of last year and took over from Carat’s Ryf Quail (who’s now at ZenithOptimedia) and Mitchell’s Philip O’Neill (who’s set to announce a new senior role soon).

With the addition of the Mitchell’s clients, it now holds key accounts like ASB, Cadbury/Kraft, 2degrees, adidas and Supercheap Auto. Aegis also recently won the General Motors account globally and, at $3 billion, it is one of the world’s biggest ever account wins.

Mergers of this scale are always messy and difficult. And Harvey says plenty of work has been done behind-the-scenes bringing the Mitchells clients into the fold before this public announcement was made. But with all the ducks in a row and everything now under one roof, some of those logistic difficulties will presumably have been dealt with.

“This is fantastic news for both staff and clients of the agency,” says Harvey. “Clients will benefit from the local strength of our team and from the global resources that will be available to them under the Carat network, as well as closer integration between our online and offline specialists.”

The Mitchell & Partners brand will remain as an extension of its presence in the Australian market.

Source: StopPress

http://www.stoppress.co.nz/news/2012/02/aegis-cuts-ribbon-on-expanded-kiwi-business-as-mitchells-officially-moves-in-with-carat/