ASIA-PACIFIC The Law Firm, a global network of 25 independent shops launched by St Luke's founder Andy Law, has entered Asia through partnerships in the Philippines and Taiwan.
In the Philippines, the network has linked up with creative shop Aspac, which will serve as the Southeast Asian representative for the Law Firm's expanding footprint.
Aspac was formerly backed by Bates, an alliance that ended in September.
Meanwhile Taiwan's A Team Advertising is reportedly set to announce its partnership with Law soon.
While no equity will be shared, Aspac has been rebranded as Aspac Law. The connection will also grant Aspac Law access to an international pool of creatives.
Miguel Ramos, managing director of Aspac, believes the affiliation will also translate to more regional and global business. "As we become the first nodal office for The Law Firm in Asia, we hope to be able to do work for other Asean markets,"he said.
The Law Firm is designed to draw on the best local talent from around the world without unnecessary layers of people and duplicating resources, a concept it calls 'Open-source creativity' Alliances already exist in markets including the UK, Paris, Holland, Greece, Sao Paolo, South Africa and Ghana.
Andy Law has had mixed fortunes since his days at St Luke's, a revolutionary London shop dubbed "the ad agency to end all ad agencies" when Law founded it in the mid-?0s. Boymeetsgirl, an agency he co-founded with backing from Interpublic and Springer & Jacoby, folded in March 2005 amid mass staff walk-outs and financial collapse.
Four months later Law launched Law & Kenneth, a global marketing services agency, with former St Luke's India CEO Praveen Kenneth, that has also failed to establish itself. The company boasted collaborators including former Eurythmics rocker Dave Stewart and Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, and opened in six markets at the same time - Mumbai, Sydney, Dubai, London, Paris and Stockholm.
See Leader, page 20
