BATES Asia Advertising has bounced back from a pair of potentially devastating account losses last year to win more than US$30 million in new business in the first half of the year.
As the second largest advertising group in the Asia-Pacific region, the Hong Kong-based firm lost considerable advertising revenue when long-time clients Mars and Malaysian Airlines left for other agencies.
Chris Jaques, president of Bates Asia, said the loss of the accounts was for political reasons beyond its control but that the firm had already made up for any lost revenue over the first half of this year.
'The work we were doing was great and none of our clients we dealt with wanted an agency change, but that's life. The new business is in our control. Our performance over the last six months has been phenomenal. We've beaten every other major agency in the region and we'll keep on beating them,' he said.
With the agency predicting growth of 19 per cent this year on 1994 billings of $586 million, the company has secured major accounts in a worldwide campaign for the Hong Kong Tourist Association (worth $100 million), Coca Cola in Indonesia and for Nokia cellular phones.
The agency has just launched a series of localised adverts for the Hong Kong Police recruitment campaign, Shell Oil, American Eagle Ginseng Tea and Nokia.
