Steven Palos, previously OgilvyOne managing director in Kuala Lumpur, has also joined as director of marketing services across the Asia-Pacific region.
"It has become self-evident that the trend is towards marketing services,
said Garry Titterton, president D'Arcy Asia Pacific.
"Our heritage has been in building strong brand equity for our major clients such as Budweiser, Coca-Cola and Mars,
he added.
"But we've found in recent times that clients are spending a lot of money on brand strategy work done by consultants who don't have a long-standing relationship with the brand."
Titterton said the Leadership Equity Group would generate its own fee income separate from the agency's fees.
With agency margins being squeezed, companies or agencies such as D'Arcy can no longer afford to do brand consultancy work for free, said Titterton.
"If you're willing to pay me the 17.65 per cent commission (that ad agencies used to receive) then I would offer it for free (as part of the advertising work) but I won't if the agency is only receiving say nine per cent.
"We want to help clients build brands but we're not a charity - ad agencies these days are generally owned by public companies.
"(As a manager of an ad agency) you have to find ways to build brands and ensure that you are paid for that equitably - most clients I speak to understand that."
