U Mobile concludes creative pitch

U Mobile has picked TBWA\Kuala Lumpur to manage duties for its prepaid segment for a year, with the option to extend for another. The job scope covers ATL, social and digital communications targeted at student, youth and migrant segments. TBWA\Kuala Lumpur was also reappointed last November to manage U Mobile’s postpaid segment.

Rouge by Entropia, Havas, Isobar’s IF Interactive, IPG Mediabrands, and McCann were vying for the account. Meanwhile, the incumbent is The Clan which declined to re-pitch. It was first appointed in December 2017. U Mobile’s head of marketing services Jenny Chin confirmed the news to A+M, adding that during the pitch review, it was apparent that TBWA\ was the closest in synergy with U Mobile’s underlying disruptive and quirky brand DNA.

“That was key to our decision in appointing TBWA\ to handle both our prepaid and postpaid creative portfolios. We’re excited about this as TBWA\ is an agency that brings a winning mix of expertise, creativity, and disruptive brilliance,” she said.

She added that with this joint appointment, U Mobile will now have access to a larger pool of talents and innovative ideas that will bring the brand to greater heights.

TBWA\’s MD Yee Hui Tsin said it is delighted to continue growing and evolving our partnership with the U Mobile team, who has a great appetite for fun, brave, and culturally relevant campaigns.

“We fortunately entered the pitch with already understanding some of the brand’s key business challenges, and look forward to delivering creative solutions aligned with U Mobile’s goals for 2020,” she added.

U Mobile also works with Isobar for its digital financial services segment, Reprise Digital for social, as well as BPN and Brandscope Malaysia for media and OOH respectively. U Mobile’s social pitch, which has six agencies vying for the account, is still pending results.

The telco recently entered the e-wallet scene with GoPayz, which offers digital financial services such as insurance and unit trust investments, the ability to make local and overseas payments, as well as reward points, among others. GoPayz’s mascot is known as bawang boy and is dressed in turquoise blue with its head shaped like an onion.

CMO Jasmine Lee told A+M previously that traditional financial services is marketed poorly – often cold, bland and unimaginative, and the team wanted to show consumers that GoPayz is not just an e-wallet but offers revolutionary digital financial services to everyone. It also partnered with UnionPay International to enable users to make digital payments locally and overseas by using the new UnionPay Virtual Card available on the app.

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