MTN appoints Y&R Gitam as its lead brand communications agency, and retains TBWA Gavin Reddy as its retail agency

MTN has appointed Y&R Gitam as its lead brand communications agency and has retained TBWA Gavin Reddy as its retail agency. This concluded an intensive pitch process which involved five agencies, including incumbent TBWA Hunt Lascaris, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey Global, Lowe Bull and Y&R Gitam.

The successful agencies were selected after an intensive three-tier process. In the first round, all five agencies pitched, and based on this performance, three agencies made it to the second and final rounds. The panel of evaluators was chaired by Group CEO Phuthuma Nhleko and included chairman of the MTN tender committee, Iemrahn Hassen, group executive directors Irene Charnley and Santie Botha, as well as chief marketing officers from MTN operations outside South Africa.

The MTN advertising account went out to pitch at the end of March 2004. PR consultancy Kilimanjaro, Media partner OMD, sponsorship partner, Octagon, and interactive partner Shift remain unaffected.