Wavemaker Retains L’Oréal Media Mandate for Indonesia

GroupM agency Wavemaker has successfully retained, for the 12th year running, the media mandate for L’Oréal Indonesia, one of the largest advertisers in Indonesia following an extensive and rigorous multi-agency pitch review in December 2019. The new mandate includes additional services of eCommerce and search.

Wavemaker leveraged on the strength of the agency’s & GroupM’s networks locally and globally, offering a massive transformation from a largely localised solution to a network solution combining the power of local operation as well as expertise from the Singapore hub.

Umesh Phadke, president director, L’Oréal Indonesia said: “L’Oréal has been working with GroupM for several years in Indonesia and many other parts of the world, but this review was done in the context of a very dynamic market further disrupted by Covid-19. For the first time we ran a pitch entirely virtually and I was impressed with the quick adaptation that all agencies demonstrated. During the review we realised that GroupM can leverage their scale in the market to get us the best efficiency in media buys but beyond that, they bring a wide and deep talent bench and toolkit that can help us navigate through a very dynamic landscape post Covid-19. To that extent GroupM has proven what I have always held dear - agencies are only as good as their talent pool and I am glad that we are going to work with the best.”

Left: Umesh Phadke, president director, L’Oréal Indonesia; Right: Himanshu Shekhar, CEO, GroupM Indonesia

Himanshu Shekhar, CEO, GroupM Indonesia, commented: “Retaining the trust of L’Oréal is fabulous. As an incumbent with a long relationship, we had to ensure continuity of operation at the same time imagine the change L’Oréal envisioned – we had to break some internal barriers, build new operating models and leverage our network strengths to create a solution fit for L’Oréal. This is even more important especially during times of Covid-19. It required a massive team effort & I have been privileged to have worked with extremely passionate and talented team across our offices in this effort.”

Amir Suherlan, MD Wavemaker Indonesia, added: “We are delighted and proud to be given this opportunity to grow our partnership with L’Oréal Indonesia, a company where consumer centricity is at the heart of every decision making.  This win is also a testament to the quality and depth of our client relationships. L’Oréal decision to retain their trust with us and also award us with the extended mandate reinforces that we have been able to successfully in navigating this task with an integrated approach to solve their media market problems. We are super charged and excited to take L’Oréal’s business performance from strength to strength in this next lap of our relationship.”