Publicis finalises Digitas rebranding in China

DigitasLBi China has officially relaunched as Digitas, reflecting a global rebrand conducted this March and what the company claims is a more unified network in China.

Sharon Ho, who joined Publicis.Sapient as executive director in 2017, took over as MD of Digitas China this June alongside Brian Ng, chief strategy officer, and Nic Brennan, executive creative director.

The China rebranding took more than six months to complete as Ho's team wanted to "make sure the localisation and office renovation are completed, and that we are already delivering some work for clients before making this public announcement, and celebrating it with a belated party”, which took place last week.

“I’m very excited about accelerating Digitas’ business in China," Ho added. "The Digitas proposition is a direct response to the need for full-funnel marketing transformation solutions."

Digitas China's 100-person team serves a client base including L’Oreal, Pernod Ricard, and Nike. Based in Shanghai, Ho reports to Annette Male, APAC CEO of Digitas.

This actually marks the second time Publicis has reverted the agency's name to Digitas in China. In 2007, after Publicis acquired what was then China's largest independent interactive marketing agency, Communication Central Group (CCG), for an undisclosed sum, CCG was rebranded as Digitas Greater China. It later began operating as DigitasLBi in 2013 when Publicis merged the two entities.