The acquisition — which sees Ogilvy buy out the whole of Interflow’s Lahore operation, along with the bulk of its Karachi office — makes the WPP agency one of the few international networks to take an ownership position in the country. “This is a new Tiger, offering an attractive growth opportunity for our clients — and also for a new generation of ‘Pak-brands’,” said Ogilvy regional co-chairman Miles Young. “We bracket it with Vietnam and Indonesia. You need to get in early with equity, and we want to apply the same recipe to Pakistan.”
Ogilvy Pakistan will be headed by CEO Shakeel Khokar, who shifts from a previous role as business director at Interflow where, among others, he oversaw one of Ogilvy’s key clients in the country, Nestlé. The agency also counts Unilever and BAT along with a local client base that includes Dubai Investment Bank. “There is no country in the world where the gap between external perception and reality is so extreme,” said Young. “And, in a world where 30 per cent of consumers will be Islamic in faith by the year 2014, it will complement our very strong positions in Indonesia and Malaysia.”
Young noted that while the account servicing and planning talent was generally strong, creative standards remained a challenge. “India 10 years ago wasn’t good either. One’s got to try and engineer the same change in Pakistan. The young creatives are good, but the clients are a mite conservative,” he said.
It is understood that Ogilvy acquired about two-thirds of Interflow, with the Pakistani agency retaining its brand in Islamabad. Of other international contenders, it is believed that only JWT and MindShare own majority stakes in Pakistan agencies — although McCann Erickson, Grey and Lowe all have a presence in the country.
Both Interflow and the agency’s chief executive, Taher Khan, will remain WPP partners in MindShare Pakistan, while Khan also takes a stake in Ogilvy Pakistan.
Pakistan’s adex is growing by around 25 per cent per year, with GDP growth at seven per cent. This year, foreign investment will reach the highest in the country’s history, at US$3 billion.
