Scoot appoints Essence for media planning and buying services, extends BLK J tenure

Following a five-month-long pitch process initiated in October 2019, Scoot has appointed Essence as its media agency of record for a period of two years from March 2020 to March 2022, with an option to renew for a further two years to March 2024.

Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency which is part of GroupM, will provide Scoot media strategy, planning and buying services for its global business, including in Mainland China which makes up a significant part of Scoot's network.

At the same time, Scoot will be extending the tenure of its creative agency of record, BLK J, by another two years, from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022.

Scoot's Vice President Marketing, Jacqueline Loh, said: "Scoot warmly welcomes Essence who possesses superior platforms and technological tools that will help us improve efficiency and lower operational costs. Throughout the pitch process, Essence consistently demonstrated a knack for proposing innovative solutions to address current gaps, and strength in utilising data-driven insights for analysis and planning. We are confident that Essence will be the right media partner to propel us to the next stage of our growth.

"Since January 2018, BLK J has worked closely with Scoot through an intense period of rapid growth and we have seen strong results from their work for us across our global network in both creative brand campaigns and social media strategy and management. We continue to believe in BLK J's ability to complement Scoot's marketing agility and drive the Scoot brand and business forward.

"The current operating climate is extremely challenging and Scoot looks forward to working together with both Essence and BLK J to plan ahead for when the global economy recovers from COVID-19."

Essence's Global CEO, Kyoko Matsushita, said: "Essence's mission is to make advertising truly valuable to our clients and their audiences. We're honoured and excited to be working with Scoot who shares our commitment to delivering value and exceptional experiences to consumers. Our team is looking forward to applying our expertise in analytics, data science and technology to further advance Scoot's rapid growth, in close collaboration with both Scoot and BLK J. Together, we hope to set new standards for how people expect an airline brand to communicate."

BLKJ's CEO and Co-Founder, Rowena Bhagchandani, said: "From proving that travel is in our blood scientifically, to turning Scoot's signature yellow into an international currency, the last two years with Scoot have been anything but ordinary. This is the result of a truly dynamic and collaborative brand-agency relationship, one of mutual trust and understanding of what represents the brand and our travellers. And we are delighted to be continuing our journey with Scoot, to keep pushing the boundaries together."

Scoot, the low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines, merged with Tigerair Singapore in July 2017 and has since grown significantly to become Singapore's leading low-cost carrier with more than 45% market share and a global network spanning 68 destinations across 16 countries and territories. Scoot has been focusing its efforts on continually improving the customer experience, such as removing payment processing fees from all direct booking channels in September 2019, moving its operations to Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 in October 2019, as well as the planned introduction of a brand new Airbus 321neo fleet from the last quarter of 2020, which will provide customers a refreshed flight experience.