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In-house agency OLIVER launches in Singapore, Tag’s Nick George to lead regional expansion

Former Tag Asia boss Nick George

Former Tag Asia boss Nick George

OLIVER, an agency that sets up in-house advertising expertise for clients, is opening an office in Singapore and plans to expand its operations in Asia, Mumbrella can reveal.

The APAC business is to be led by Nick George, previously the regional MD of production company Tag Worldwide who has spent a decade in Asia.

George explained the OLIVER model to Mumbrella: “We sit down with a client and work out what their marketing plans are for the year. Then we build a bespoke team to fulfil that plan – from strategic planners to cameramen – and place them inside the client’s building.”

OLIVER has set up in-house teams for 50 clients since its inception, including Starbucks, Vodafone, AXA, Pepsico and 3M.

The cost of using an OLIVER team works out at about 30 per cent less than using a regular agency, George said. “Any client in the world would want to make that saving,” he said in a Q&A interview with Mumbrella.

The company, which was set up by CEO Simon Martin in 2004, has a regional presence in Hong Kong and Sydney, and offices in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Dublin.

George said he plans to build on the company’s existing presence and later look to expand into China, Korea, Japan and Malaysia from Oliver’s regional base in Singapore.

Geri Tay

Geri Tay

His first hire is Geri Tay, with whom he worked at Tag, as OLIVER’s regional business and operations director. Tay has 15 years industry experience latterly as Tag’s regional business director. She has also worked for DDB, Rocket X Media, OgilvyOne and Draft Worldwide.

George joined Tag just under a decade ago, and in three years grew the company’s Asia footprint to five offices with 150 people.

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