MUMBAI: It was the perfect cap to what what has been a great year for Group M's media agency MindShare in the Asia Pacific. Mindshare won the Media's Agency of the Year award for the second year in succession at the Media Magazine Awards that were held in Hong Kong on Friday, 10 December.

This is the first time that any agency has won the Agency of the Year award two years in succession. To add to this, MindShare also had more finalists across the various categories than any other agency.

MindShare bagged the Agency of the Year award for the commendable performance of the network across various countries in Asia Pacific. The agency had a 79 per cent success ratio in new business pitches, 95 per cent retention rate on existing clients, 38 per cent surge in revenues, business wins worth over $ 378 million in billings, including Vodaphone (Japan), Asia Pacific Breweries (Tiger/Heineken beers) in South East Asia, ICICI Prudential Insurance, LG and Brittannia in India, Loreal, Changhong and Motorola in China and Unilever and Cadbury Adams in Thailand.

What's more, MindShare Japan were a finalist in Office of the Year, whereas MindShare and Maxus chairman Asia Pacific John Steedman finished runners up in the Agency Regional Head of the Year category.

Another feather in the agency's cap this year was that Campaign Magazine voted the MindShare group as the 'International Network of the Year' and the 'Media Agency of the Year' for UK for the second year running.

Apart from this, MindShare India this year also developed a planning tool called Print Passion, which provides clients with a clearer insight into audience involvement with specific publications.

Speaking on the same, Group M South Asia CEO Ashutosh Srivastava said, "T Matrix was launched on the Trinity cable network (managed by former Star distribution head Arun Mohan) in Delhi and its surrounding areas and is available in 1.6 million homes and growing. Print Passion on the other hand, is also available in the Delhi market and will be rolled out in Bangalore and Mumbai over the next three to four months."

GLOBALLY, MINDSHARE'S BEST EVER YEAR
Globally, the agency has had the most succesful12 months in its seven-year history, securing $ 3 billion worth of new business, winning numerous awards and investing heavily in research.

The biggest by far of course was the $ 1.3 billion western Europe Unilever account that Mindhsare won in a three-way pitch that included Carat and Initiative.