The battle for Huawei mobile brands PR account has left a lot of tongues wagging after Media Edge literally picked the deal from its rival’s mouth. Events leading to Tell-Em losing the account is a lesson in the art of deal-making and how perception and those small things that managers often ignore can turn the tables in a million-shilling deal.
It was a fierce corporate battle for what is shaping up to be one of the region’s key accounts. Huawei, one of the top Chinese mobile brands, has gained a foothold in the Kenyan smartphones market, while its operations in Tanzania and Uganda are picking momentum. The corporate PR is handled by Oygene, a new entrant in the industry run by Nick Wachira, former managing editor of the Business Daily.
So recently, it decided to consolidate the PR and media functions for its mobile brands under one agency. Tell-Em, which has been handling Huawei brands PR in Kenya, was put up against the industry’s titans in a pitch held two weeks ago. Tell’em, owned by former cabinet minister Mutahi Kagwe, had been operating the account on auto-renewal, but expansion called for a competitive bid in line with the corporate governance rules.
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“They had to go to back to the market as a result of the expanded scope of work,” said a person familiar with the matter.
When the pitch was over, Elizabeth Cook’s Tell-Em has lost the deal to Media Edge, headed by another former editor at Daily Nation, Mr Washington Akumu. A source who attended the pitch said it was a battle of both brains and brawl, with pricing playing a key role. The other bidder was Hill & Knowton.
On Kenya, Tell-Em scored 89%, emerging top, but was derailed when the scores were evened out across the region for lack of capacity to deliver in Uganda and Tanzania. For the regional job Tell’em pitched a rate of Ksh1 million per month, up from Ksh500,000 that it was charging for the Kenyan PR service. Media Edge, according to sources, offered to charge Ksh800,000 for the three countries, while H&K gave a cost of Ksh1.2 million.
While Media Edge has a presence in Tanzania and Uganda through affiliation, it also offered a lower price, which was attractive to Huawei.
But there was something else. According to one of the people who attended the pitch, Mr Akumu, Media Edge Managing Director, went out of his way to attend all the meetings, including the pitch, while the other two only sent respective consultants. “The judges said that fact that the MD of Media Edge was ever-present showed how serious the agency was about the client,” said the source.
But it will be delicate maths for Media Edge in balancing the Ksh800,000 monthly retainer among the three countries and delivering for the client. Tanzania is especially a tricky market where paying journalists to get coverage is the norm. If you don’t pay what they call ‘nauli’ (or fare) you get a blackout.
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