A press statement from BBDO said “the consolidation is expected to provide greater efficiencies and deeper resources to our clients and the business.”
Eddy Fu, MD of BBDO Taiwan takes up responsibility for oversight of the new combined operations and finances in July. He could not be reached for comment by publishing time.
The company’s official statement also announced Soetanto’s replacement is pending and that the consolidation would “provide greater efficiencies to our clients and the business. DDB has no plans to exit the Taiwan market.”
DDB confirmed the news with Campaign, though it claimed, “there is no date yet on the merger”.
“This is a deliberate move to build greater presence, the combined force of the two operations creates a powerful synergy of two of the most creative agencies in the world," said John Zeigler, chairman & CEO, DDB Group Asia Pacific, India & Japan. "Our clients will have access to a breadth of knowledge and expertise that one single agency could not provide in the Taiwanese market.”
However, a senior Taiwanese agency source commented that the move “is due to the poor revenue performance of DDB Taiwan.”
DDB Taiwan’s key clients include Fidelity Investments, Blizzard Entertainment (online games), and Hoyu (a Japanese haircare brand).