In addition to Asia-Pacific, Omnicom will also be taking PHD to continental Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and has expanded OMG's management structure accordingly. OMD worldwide CFO Daryl Simm has been named chairman and CEO of OMG.
"We need more capacity to respond to the market as OMD has seen an explosion of its international business," said Cooper of Omnicom's long-anticipated move to bring the 15-year-old PHD brand to the region.
The move comes as rival WPP prepares to integrate Grey Global Group's MediaCom brand under its formidable Group M trading structure, which includes MindShare, MEC and Maxus, from January next year, while Publicis has indicated that it is in preliminary talks to acquire media buyer Aegis.
"PHD is not a manufactured brand like Vizeum or Maxus. It has heritage as well as a growing client roster, making it the perfect choice for international expansion," said Cooper.One of the first media independents, PHD was founded by three pioneering agency executives in London in 1990 but its footprint to date has been limited to North America and the UK. Details on how Omnicom would launch PHD in Asia were being finalised at press-time. Cooper expected the regional rollout to be completed by early 2006 and said OMG would be making additional investments in shared resources, including research, sponsorship and its media-negotiating arm Opera.