McCann Indonesia's hiring spree continues, with new president director

The newly-created position is effective from 3 October. It is understood this designation is to replace Michelle Ong, managing director at McCann Worldgroup Indonesia, who will be resigning from the position for family reasons in December to return to her home country of Malaysia.

For the time being, Ong will report into and work alongside Soderbom, the former CEO at Leo Burnett Indonesia and Kreasindo.

With more than 25 years of experience,  Soderbom is also the founder-owner of Kreasindo, an independent integrated agency in Indonesia. The agency is now the country's third largest agency.

Soderbom sold Kreasindo to Leo Burnett Worldwide in 2000, where he remained as CEO at Leo Burnett/Kreasindo until leaving in 2004 to run his own retail business as well as consult for major international brands in their marketing efforts across Europe and Southeast Asia.

"The appointment of Berndt is very positive for McCann Worldgroup and is a further illustration of the positive transformation our agency is undertaking both in Indonesia and across the globe," Charles Cadell, managing director of McCann Worldgroup Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, commented on the appointment.

"Building on the great work that has already begun in Indonesia, Berndt will be working with the team there to ensure that McCann Worldgroup remains focused on delivering marketing solutions that transform brands and grow businesses, he added. "He will do this using our company pillars of creativity, innovation, performance and collaboration across all of our company’s disciplines and brands."

Speaking on his new role, Soderbom noted that Indonesia is a market increasingly recognised as one of the world's new economic powerhouses.

"Having lived and worked in Jakarta for many years before, I have great respect and admiration for the country and so am delighted to be returning here to once more. I see McCann Worldgroup’s transformation as a chance to develop a truly integrated communication company that is ready to service the increasingly sophisticated Indonesian client community," Soderbom said. "Through this the agency will very soon become a one of the leading agencies in Indonesia."

Michelle Ong was appointed to her position in June last year, following the departure of Indonesia managing director Somyot Chairat.

Several key staff have also left the agency over the past year. That has been cited as at least a part-cause of its long-time client Pizza Hut Indonesia ending their nine-year relationship in January and approaching three new agencies to pitch for the business. The restaurant's account is worth in the region of US$7 million.

McCann WorldGroup Indonesia later lost another major account - Indonesian cigarette manufacturer Gudang Garam's flagship brand Surya16 - when Publicis Thailand picked up the account in March this year. That followed a competitive pitch that involved JWT, Ogilvy, Advantage, AdCentric, Coleman Handoko and incumbent McCann Erickson.

The agency then made several appointments to fill up key senior position. January alone saw the arrival of strategic planning director Daniel Siswandi from Saatchi & Saatchi Jakarta, where he was also involved in regional planning, and production head Shirren Lim from Saatchi Bangkok where she was regional producer. Caroline Bal, previously of G2 Malaysia, the new head of Momentum, started in March.

On the creative side, Maria Sum joined as deputy ECD, returning to McCann after stints as creative director at Y&R and JWT Bangkok. Award winning creative group heads Dessi Tambunan and Pasha Yudidabrata, from Publicis and JWT respectively, have started at McCann in January, along with senior interactive designer Mira Iskarnita, who returns to Indonesia after working in New York.