Carlson signs up ex-Rapp affiliate

<p>SINGAPORE: Relationship marketing firm Carlson Marketing Group </p><p>(CMG) will be opening an office in Jakarta next month under a joint </p><p>venture deal with a local direct marketing company, Interact. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The agency was previously an affiliate of Rapp Collins and will be </p><p>folded into the Interact Carlson Marketing Group joint-venture. The </p><p>company will have a head count of 65 and clients such as Standard </p><p>Chartered Bank. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Interact managing director Shalini Gopalan will manage the business, </p><p>while Geoffrey Maclean, CMG's Singapore-based executive vice-president, </p><p>will oversee the office. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Vincent Tan, CMG business development director, will be based in Jakarta </p><p>for a few months to drum up business from Carlson's global clients, with </p><p>operations in the country. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Gerry Pereira, CMG's Asia-Pacific chief executive officer, said the </p><p>company teamed up with Interact because it had a sizeable operation and </p><p>it was the only Indonesian firm which came close to doing the type of </p><p>relationship marketing work CMG was known for. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"There's no true relationship marketing companies out there which are </p><p>independent so we usually end up with direct marketing and sales </p><p>promotion companies," said Pereira. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We look to see that the local management are genuinely interested in </p><p>relationship marketing and then we bring in people with relationship </p><p>marketing expertise." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said having an Asia-Pacific network was important as CMG needed to </p><p>meet the needs of key clients such as Cisco Systems, Citibank and </p><p>Motorola. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>CMG said it would also be acquiring agencies in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok </p><p>and Shanghai, and it expects to have these deals finalised in the next </p><p>three months. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>