MANILA: Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific has acquired a Manila-based direct
marketing shop, its first purchase in a regional acquisition drive to
boost below-the-line capabilities and achieve a better balance in its
revenue base.
Burnett now has direct marketing operations in three regional markets,
including Australia and Singapore, with its acquisition of First
Direct.
First Direct was established in 1996 by Ichay Bulaong and Raymond
Legaspi, formerly from Ogilvy & Mather Direct. The agency, which bills
US$500,000 and counts Pfizer and Heinz among its clients, said
rival groups, including BBDO and J. Walter Thompson, had pursued it.
Burnett's regional managing director Richard Pinder said the next
acquisition would be an interactive company in Singapore. The deal had
been in the works since the second quarter. "We have a lot of business
in the group which was grown by the company rather than through
acquisition. This shows we have the capability to do such things, but
with an 80 to 20 revenue split (in favour of advertising), it shows that
they are not market leaders."
Pinder said the acquisitions were about "being best in class" in key
areas such as direct, design and interactive. The network is keen to
acquire design companies to handle medium to lower end design work,
including packaging and POS materials.
