BrandOne, which will continue to operate independently, lists Northwest Airlines, Digital China and Yahoo as clients.
John Goodman, regional chairman and managing director at OgilvyOne, said: "There are not many independent direct marketing agencies, so there was really no other choice. We looked at two or three others and this (BrandOne) was by far a cut above the rest... We have in many Asian countries a second agency resource, partly because to manage client conflict and for those clients who perhaps want to work differently. And the other reason is to gain staff opportunities. We're also looking at one (company) in Thailand."
BrandOne was set up in 1999 by Paul Hu, previously marketing manager in Beijing for Northwest Airlines, which is also an OgilvyOne client.
Goodman added that the agency would be looking to hire more staff at BrandOne, which already has 22 employees. Hu will now report to Jennie Fan, national managing director for OgilvyOne China, who will rejoin the agency this month.
Fan will manage OgilvyOne, OgilvyInteractive, RMG and BrandOne offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
