The move will mean further appointments at GM level for both offices. Those appointments have yet to be made. “We are the number one creative agency in both markets. My brief is to sustain that position and develop new capabilities,” Foley said. “Overlooking both offices, I will be in a better position to see which resources are more developed in each market.”
Where a discipline is more advanced, like digital in Singapore, there will be no need to replicate the capability, Foley noted. Malaysia, which has a stronger line-up of FMCG clients, will likely launch Saatchi X, the network's shopper marketing division, he added.
Separately, Cirio Cinco, ECD of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, is leaving the agency. Cinco ends a six-year spell at the agency he joined from Dentsu affiliate Image Dimensions, and plans to go freelance. Ace Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Matthew Seddon, who took the helm of the agency last December with a brief to rejuvenate its creative output, is in talks with a number of candidates.