The Omnicom agency launched the direct marketing and customer management business with Air France, which relocated its database and frequent flyer operation to Beijing about a year ago, as its foundation client.
The network has opened Rapp Collins as a wholly-owned business under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the SAR and China, which permits Hong Kong service and manufacturing companies to enter the mainland without a local joint-venture partner.
The network has opened Rapp Collins as a wholly-owned business under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the SAR and China, which permits Hong Kong service and manufacturing companies to enter the mainland without a local joint-venture partner.
Nygard will initially lead a team of about five -- comprising mainly account management -- in Beijing and Shanghai, with creative capabilities provided by DDB's Shanghai office, said the network's Asia chairman and CEO Aaron Lau.
Nygard, who speaks Mandarin, joined DDB as business director for regional accounts early last year. Prior to DDB, Nygard, who has lived in China since the early 1980s, held senior account management roles at D'Arcy, DMB&B and DY&R in China, and on the client side oversaw the marketing of Acer International in the UK.