SINGAPORE: Impiric is reshuffling its management line-up in three
Asian markets.
Its Philippine president Birgit Baier-Buesgen will take over as general
manager in Singapore from Geoff Collins, who moves to the Bangkok office
on October 1. Collins has yet to finalise his new title, but he will
manage an undisclosed account that Impiric recently won.
Damian Byrne, Impiric client services director in the Philippines, will
move up as general manager of the Manila office, although Baier-Buesgen
will manage that office from Singapore until Byrne is settled.
Impiric's Asia-Pacific president, Wolfgang Haf, said: "I've known Birgit
for a long time and she brings to the Singapore office a high level of
energy and passion.
"She's created a good operation in Manila and her task in Singapore will
be to totally integrate the business by ensuring all the entities -
direct marketing, sales promotion, teleservices, database management and
so on - are working well together."
Baier-Buesgen said the Singapore office was more established - it has
around 100 employees - but still faced a major challenge. "The
competition in Singapore is stronger and more established than in the
Philippines," she said.
"I am used to working in emerging markets where direct marketing is in
its infancy. With markets like the Philippines there are no consumer
databases - you start with promotions to collect the data and learn
customer insights."
Baier-Buesgen joined Impiric in Manila in October 1999, when it had one
other employee. The Philippine office now has 27 staff and handles the
IBM, Citibank, Siemens (corporate) and Ford accounts.
