HONG KONG: Carat has boosted its management team in Asia-Pacific in the
wake of the agency's mid-year win of the US$600 million global
Philips media account.
Kicking off the series of promotions, regional managing director David
Liu has been named regional chief executive officer.
Australia chief executive officer Richard Halmarick, Japan president Kim
Walker and India CEO Meenakshi Madhvani have been appointed regional
directors to assist Liu with development and management responsibilities
of three main regions - Pacific, North Asia and South Asia.
Liu said: "The appointment of the three regional directors based in
three different cities will strengthen our management focus in key
developing markets."
He also revealed that Carat was on the verge of completing several
strategic acquisitions in the region, including Japan, which would give
the agency a sharper competitive edge compared with rival media
agencies.
He stressed that the agency's mergers and acquisitions strategy
represented a plan that was aimed at improving its capabilities,
increasing its media buying clout and providing added value benefits to
clients.
Liu added: "Our goal is to double the agency's turnover and revenue in
Asia-Pacific in 2002.
"Carat spent the last few years building a very strong media planning
and buying network in Asia-Pacific. Now we are also moving forward to
launch other integrated capabilities in order to deliver added value
services to our clients."
Liu estimates the agency's billings for this year will total US$600 million.
