FCB severs links in Indonesia to start own shop

JAKARTA: FCB has split with Advis, its local partner in Indonesia, bringing an end to a five-year commercial relationship between them. FCB decided not to exercise its option to buy into Advis. A new, locally incorporated agency, known as FCB, has been set up in the country. FCB has kept network accounts including Kraft, Compaq, New Zealand Milk, Sara Lee and SC Johnson. Advis has kept locally-held accounts including Ericsson. "The intention has always been for us to be able to control our own fate," said FCB Singapore chief executive and Southeast Asia area director Bhaskar Rao. "We are committed to Indonesia because our clients are committed to Indonesia." He said that the agency's first prioirty was to bed down its international clients, but that it was also in the process of pitching for local clients. "It's very exciting - the place has the smell of a start-up about it," said FCB Asia-Pacific president and chief executive Ben Barnes. "We'd been looking into a split for the last year. We tried to work through everything internally, but it just didn't happen. The agency was out of context with the rest of the network." The new office, with a team of 35, reports to FCB's Southeast Asia headquarters in Singapore. "We hope to support a great deal of the work there out of Singapore," said Rao.

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