MINDSHARE Malaysia has confirmed that it has been appointed by the Sime Darby Group to manage the group’s media and marketing businesses starting next year, the first media agency to hold the conglomerate’s overall media account.

“The account is worth RM45 million in real money. In adex (advertising expenditure) terms, it is worth far more,” said Rahul Thappa, managing director of Mindshare Malaysia in a phone interview with The Edge Financial Daily yesterday. The amount is for the year 2010 and spans the group’s entire range of businesses in Malaysia which are plantation and agribusiness, property, industrial, motors, energy and utilities, he said.

Quoting sources, Marketing-Interactive.com reported on Nov 30 that Mindshare had clinched the Sime Darby media account.

“For the coming year, we will be predominantly handling the Malaysian businesses. But when Sime Darby Group starts to advance its businesses in other countries, Mindshare will be their partners,” added Rahul.

Sime Darby president and group CEO Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid said on Nov 30 that Sime Darby had allocated between RM1 billion and RM2 billion worth of capital expenditure for expansion in China over the next five years. However, Rahul said he could not talk more about the global business.

According to him, other media agencies that took part in the pitch called in August were Starcom, Zenith Media, Carat and Adrenaline. Mindshare had known “for a few months” that it had won the pitch but respected Sime Darby Group’s wishes for discretion.

Rahul said previously, Sime Darby’s media account was split up among several agencies. Media agencies that have worked with Sime Darby in the past include Dentsu, People ‘n Rich and Adrenaline.

This article appeared on the Media & Advertising page, The Edge Financial Daily, Dec 3, 2009.