HPB concludes creative pitch

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) has appointed Publicis Singapore and Pico International, to support its integrated marketing activities following a pitch for three different agency services – strategic brand lead, creative production specialists, and experiential marketing specialist services. The pitch was handled by R3, and the length of appointment is for three years, with an option to extend for two. Publicis Groupe will be responsible for conceptualising, planning and implementing all integrated marketing and communication campaigns for HPB’s health initiatives. The work will be delivered by a bespoke team led by managing director, Joanne Theseira who will be responsible for bringing together talent from companies within Publicis Groupe, namely Publicis Worldwide, Digitas, Prodigious, MSL, as well as with teams from Pico, as part of a strategic partnership between the two companies. In a statement to Marketing, a spokesperson from Publicis said that moving to a consolidated model will enable the board to create greater synergy and streamline its communications efforts, while delivering one-to-one consumer engagement at scale through data, content and technology. Prior to this, Publicis was one of two creatives agencies on retainer by HPB, having first won a part of the business in 2015. The scope of the new tender will see all marketing activities consolidated under one agency group. The appointment follows a selection process initiated in August 2018, which saw a total of eight agency groups bidding for the business. The shortlist included consortiums DDB and Tribal Worldwide; Ogilvy, VMLY&R and Hogarth Worldwide; Publicis and Prodigious; and Havas and GOVT. Meanwhile, the other agencies vying for the account also included Grey Group, J. Walter Thompson Singapore, TBWA\ Singapore and Three60 Degree Consulting. In a tender document previously seen by Marketing, HPB said it was looking for an optimal agency model to be implemented with three types of agencies – a strategic brand lead, creative production specialist and experiential marketing specialist. The agency appointed as a strategic brand lead will be responsible for executions of large-scale or priority campaigns and will also need to be able to strategise and plan for both through-the-line communications and on-ground activation and outreach programs. Meanwhile, the creative production specialist team will handle high volume, fast-turnaround asset creation as well as ad hoc, non-campaign related BTL asset creation and production. The experiential marketing specialist team will be in-charge of creative conceptualisation and execution for campaigns engaging with youths or younger parents. “We’re really passionate about the work that HPB does, and we are incredibly honoured to have been given a great responsibility to help shape Singaporeans relationship with health for the better in the coming years. There is no doubt that the Power of One has been a great source of collaboration, initiatives, smart decisions, stronger focus on our game-changers and most importantly, it has been absolutely critical to truly put our clients at the centre," Publicis Communications CEO, Lou Dela Pena said.