So is this simply a reflection of an extraordinary year, or the end to the big networks’ cosy dominance of Asia’s ad scene? Chris Jaques, CEO at M&C Saatchi Asia points to the latter. “I believe this is the start of a trend. The future lies with small, smart, solution-neutral companies that produce creative solutions for business, rather than with big agencies and their slow, expensive communications campaigns.”
He would say that, of course. After a bad start to the year with 10 layoffs in Hong Kong, Jaques’ mid-sized M&C was forced to reinvent itself. It relaunched in Singapore as a smaller operation in November. It also opened small offices in Beijing and in Tokyo, the latter built around a 12-person team poached from Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon.
It’s a trend recognised by the bigger agencies, many of which have experimented in response. PHD, after all, has been built up by Omnicom Media Group as an alternative to OMD. And in June, McCann Worldgroup announced it would launch a series of agencies around Southeast Asia, branded Harry’s.
There are several factors underlying these developments. Generally, there is now a growing dependence on local business. Networks have been built on global alignments with Western clients, but as the region matures, growth in Asia’s marketing industry will come from Asian brands. That means opportunities for agencies that can respond to their needs.
“The success of small agencies is a natural progression of engagement fragmentation,” says Mark Ingrouille, outgoing Asean region director of McCann Worldgroup. “What we’re witnessing is industry top and tailing. What you see is that big agencies are doing rather well at winning local business, and small agencies are doing rather well at winning local business.”
On the creative side, we may be seeing clients in Asia follow the trend from the West of hiring small, creative shops to deliver big ideas.
“When clients are reducing media spend, it is the time when creative work can shine through,” argues Kel Hook, MD of Wieden & Kennedy in Shanghai. “I think the independents have a sense of it. We feel like we’re nimble in the way we’re structured. There’s just an ability to be a lot more integrated and develop a much wider range of creative ideas.”
The independent scene is hardly huge in Asia - most of the successful ones were bought up in the agency land-grab earlier in the decade. More common is the mid-sized network and spin-offs of bigger shops.
One such agency is Sunshine, a brand consultancy under M&C Saatchi. Rob Campbell, Sunshine’s managing partner and creative brand strategist, says 2009 gave agencies such as his a chance to “demonstrate and prove themselves” as financially strapped clients looked again at their relationships. He adds: “It’s been a big year for these smaller agencies, but now it’s their job to prove that the clients were right to choose them. That will make the difference.”
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This article was originally published in 17 December 2009 issue of Media.