Lewis plans ambitious APAC expansion

Integrated communications agency Lewis has announced plans to double its APAC network and practice areas while adding eight new offices and creating digital hubs in Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney.

The new offices will be in Bangkok, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Haikou, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Melbourne and Shenzhen. 

The so-called 'APAC 2020 大湾区 (da wan qu)' plan also includes 200 new roles in analytics, SEO, paid and biddable media, and video production, as well as a global head of esports based in China, according to the company.

The company expects to fill all the roles by no later than 31 July 2020.

“APAC is maturing rapidly to adopt a leadership position globally,” Scott Pettet, SVP Asia, said in a release. He added that Lewis has major advantages over the holding companies when it comes to seizing such an opportunity. Lewis is a "unitary brand" with no legacy infrastructure to dismantle and has more investment funding available than most competitors, he said.

“We plan to grow our regional presence significantly,” said Jen Wu, the company's APAC VP for talent and operations and North APAC 2020 controller. “China is internationalising rapidly, and Lewis is there to help clients develop their revenues in global markets. I’m in the lucky position to invest $3 million in our proposition in the Greater China Region.”

Emma Jenkins, APAC VP and South APAC 2020 controller, said the investments will allow the company to unleash the "tremendous amount of talent throughout Southeast Asia" on behalf of clients while scaling operations and expanding creative and digital services.