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MullenLowe Profero Japan ditches creative partner Standard Advertising as it merges divisions

Digital agency MullenLowe Profero Tokyo has parted ways with its creative partner of 15 years as the company brings all its capabilities under one roof in Japan.

From left: James Hollow, Sunggong Won, Soichiro Yanagi

The agency has worked with independent Japanese firm Standard Advertising since 2002 as part of a joint venture partnership.

However, as the agency launches a new “hyper-bundled” structure – under the name MullenLowe Group Japan – the two entities have dissolved the partnership.

A spokesman for MullenLowe Group said: “We would like to take this opportunity to officially thank Standard Advertising for over 15 years of successful partnership in the Japanese market and wish them all the best as an independent agency in the future.”

Under the new structure, which builds on MullenLowe Profero’s 12-year-old base in Tokyo, the new network consists of three parts: MullenLowe Tokyo, a creative agency, MullenLowe Mediahub, a media agency, and MullenLowe Profero, which is now being touted as an “experience-led digital business transformation agency”.

MullenLowe Group Japan will be headed by James Hollow who previously led MullenLowe Profero Tokyo. He said: “We see two distinct but related opportunities. Firstly, to bring an agile creative media offering that can capitalise on the opportunities emerging from an increasingly programmatic media landscape. Secondly, to meet the opportunities presented by the adoption of digital touchpoints and data-driven decision-making by brands in Japan with an experience-led transformation offering.”

The Japan move follows a similar merger of MullenLowe’s creative and digital agencies in China, to be led by former DDB China chief executive officer Richard Tan.

Earlier this year, MullenLowe Vietnam announced it was moving its leadership to Singapore. The move led to the departure of MullenLowe Vietnam chief executive officer Michel Borelli and executive creative director Adrian McNamara shortly afterwards.

 

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