Fitch has an extensive regional presence with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney.
However, the company has yet to establish a permanent standalone operation in China. It serves clients such as Shanghai General Motors and Nokia through the offices of its former Cordiant, now WPP, sister company Bates.
Rodney Fitch, Fitch's global chairman, said the plan was to open up offices in Beijing and Shanghai this year mainly because the firm's global clients were seeking to either enter China or strengthen its market presence there.
He believed that the upside potential of the market was high because there was a dearth of quality design work.
"There is quite a lot of bad design work in China and we want to attempt to address that through the people we already have on the ground here (in Hong Kong) as well as through knowledge sharing and transfer among our offices globally," said Fitch.
Underline:Fitch Hong Kong managing partner Benny Hui said the first steps would likely be small offices offering basic services, with more specialised resources flown in on a needs basis. "As our offering is multi-disciplinary, it's difficult to have all the expertise in one office. But while a physical presence in the market is important, we will need to decide what resources should be there and what should be included in a mobile task force," Hui said.
Fitch, who founded the firm about 40 years ago, was named chairman of the firm last year after WPP bought the ailing Cordiant.
