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Amsterdam-based agency Superheroes seeks Asia base to service LG and Asus clients

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Superheroes, a digitally-led creative agency based in Amsterdam, is looking at Asia for the best place to open a local office following working on a number of campaigns for clients in the region.

With a New York office already established, founder and ECD Rogier Vijverberg said the agency is now on the hunt for the best base in Asia to service its clients, which LG in Korea and Asus in Taiwan.

Vijverberg

Vijverberg

Speaking to Mumbrella at Spikes Asia in Singapore, he said: “We have recently started in New York, we are now investigating what place to start in Asia because we have clients in Korea and Taiwan. We feel it is necessary to be in this timezone, but what our destination is going to be we don’t know yet.”

“To be in Asia for Asian clients is an important element.”

Superhereos’ LG work:

On how the Asian market differs from their experiences in Europe, Vijverberg said Europe is very well developed, while in Asia there is more flexibility and freedom from an advertising perspective.

“The European market is a lot more on the defensive, making sure you keep your market share and not challenging yourself as much to really grow,” he said.

“At the same time, the brands are much more developed in the marketing sense. They have great marketing teams, well developed marketing insights, they really know what does and doesn’t work.”

“In Asia, we have quite a bit of freedom in creating work, there’s trust and belief and a willingness to take risks, more so than in Europe. It’s an exciting market for us.”

On the current state of the creative industry in Asia, Vijverberg said the region is picking up.

“The common thinking about Asian creativity is that it’s not very original and not probably very spectacular. But I think the region is really picking up. If you look at some of the individual agencies in the area, there’s a lot of good work coming out of Asia at the moment,” he said.

As an independent agency, Vijverbeg said one of their biggest challenges is finding the right talent.

“As a relatively small and independent shop we do deliver global work,” he said. “Our biggest challenge is to find the right talent to support us.”

Across the board, Vijverberg said agencies are challenged by the need to sell work to clients.

“One of the biggest problems is the creative work you need to sell into your clients needs to be convincing enough for them to buy it in a time of recession, especially in Europe,” he said.

“They look for proof. They want to know ahead of time that you’re going to be successful.”

Miranda Ward at Spikes Asia

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