The two agencies join Leo Burnett and APD (formerly Next Digital) as the telco's creative roster agencies. Leo Burnett will continue to handle all product marcomm briefs and APD will manage all of Maxis' web and social properties, confirmed Sulin Lau, head of marketing at Maxis.
It's understood that the pitch was a small one and involved incumbent agencies Ogilvy & Mather and Leo Burnett, which were appointed to the account in 2014.
Ensemble has been handling content work for Maxis on a project basis. Recent campaigns it has worked on include a tie-up between Waze and Maxis, and the Kongsi Home Project for Chinese New Year.
“We’ve been working with Maxis on projects for the past six months, and every interaction was a giddy dose of collaboration and creativity," said Chan Woei Hern, ECD of Ensemble Worldwide. "The energy and enthusiasm definitely comes out in the work we’ve done and the work you’ll see in the future."
Maxis' media agency of record is Mediabrands-owned Initiative, which won the telco's media account off 10-year incumbent Mindshare. According to Nielsen’s Adex report, Maxis annual spending is reported to be around RM321 million (about US$72 million).