AS Watson concludes media pitch for HK

AS Watson has handed its media business in Hong Kong to Hearts & Science APAC, an Omnicom Media Group agency, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE understands. 

It is understood that a pitch took place in the second half of 2024 and the brand’s incumbent dentsu took part in the pitch. 

Under the partnership, which started on 1 March, Hearts & Science is understood to be responsible for all media duties of the brand, including online and offline.
 
During the first half of 2024, AS Watson’s parent company CK Hutchison has navigated headwinds ranging from the cumulative effect of energy and input cost escalations in the UK and Europe to the impact of tight monetary policies in the US and the resulting strong US dollar, to continuing soft consumer demand in Asia outside of the ASEAN countries, according to its 2024 interim report.
 
The Health and Beauty segment, which represented 88% of the Retail division’s revenue in the first half of 2024, reported total sales growth in local currencies of 6% from a solid 5% growth in comparable store sales.  
 
Health and Beauty Asia reported an 11% increase in both EBITDA and EBIT in local currencies primarily driven by steady sales growth from its major markets in the ASEAN region. This pleasing growth performance was partly offset by the weak performance of Health and Beauty China which saw a 19% decline in comparable store sales. 
 
AS Watson operated 12 retail brands with 16,548 stores in 28 markets worldwide as of 30 June 2024. The retail division had a net store addition of 2%, primarily driven by store network expansion in the ASEAN Asia region and Poland. Comparable store sales growth for the H&B segment of 4.5% in the first half of 2024 was mainly contributed by the steady comparable stores' sales growth of 9.2% in the H&B Asia with growing demand in the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia in particular.

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