YDM Thailand, a leading Digital Marketing Solutions provider in Southeast Asia, announced the addition of “FCB BANGKOK,” a world-class creative advertising agency, to its group. This strengthens the organization and supports its goal of becoming a complete one stop service marketing provider across both offline and online channels, capable of comprehensively meeting the needs of clients across all industries. The company is confident that this addition will expand the combined client base by 30%.

Mr. Tanapon Subsomboon, CEO of YDM Thailand, revealed, “This is the first time in Thailand that an online agency has acquired an offline agency. The goal of bringing FCB BANGKOK into YDM Thailand is to strengthen the organization under the vision Drive•Connect•Grow by combining the digital marketing expertise that our company already has with FCB BANGKOK’s experience in creative work and brand strategy. This will help clients grow in the digital era and meet a wide range of needs in a more comprehensive way. At the same time, FCB BANGKOK specializes in branding, communication strategy, advertising campaign management, and marketing campaign design. It is an organization filled with capable people and strong expertise. We therefore believe this integration will lead to mutual exchange and learning, increasing marketing competitiveness for the benefit of clients and brands.”

“Content that will play a greater role in the future is content that comes with technology and communication formats that combine online and offline together. Therefore, when we think strategically, we must think from the bigger picture and create synergy between online and offline. If we are able to work together from the beginning, the result should be better. That is why we decided to acquire FCB BANGKOK to work together with us. This will help YDM Thailand create O2O (Online to Offline) experiences and design marketing strategies or business solutions that meet clients’ needs from upstream to downstream. It will be a marketing model that blends these elements very effectively,” Mr. Tanapon said.

Ms. Tutiya Disphanurat, Managing Director of FCB BANGKOK, said that becoming part of YDM Thailand will likewise strengthen the company and make its services more comprehensive. It will also provide greater convenience for clients in managing marketing campaigns. In the past, some clients have used separate agencies based on specific areas of expertise. Therefore, this collaboration will more fully meet clients’ needs by bringing together an agency with creative expertise and one with digital marketing expertise. In the past year, the company generated revenue of more than 100 million baht, and after this merger, it has set a joint growth target with YDM Thailand of 30%.

“FCB BANGKOK’s main goal is to move toward creating business solutions in a Free Form way, in order to respond to the different needs of clients in each type of business. This will allow ideas for solving client problems to come from every direction, without the need to divide them into online or offline anymore.”

Regarding the advertising business outlook for 2019, Ms. Tutiya said that the industry will increasingly see the use of technology to strengthen operations, whether through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in media buying or chatbots in customer service. These technologies will help agency businesses provide services and use budgets more efficiently. This is in line with the continued growth in digital advertising spending. Advertising expenditure in 2018 was estimated at more than 89 billion baht*, of which digital platform advertising was estimated at 15 billion baht, growing by more than 20% from 2017.

*(Source: Digital Advertising Association of Thailand, or DAAT)

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About YDM Thailand

YDM (Thailand) Co., Ltd., under Yello Digital Marketing (YDM) of South Korea, is one of Thailand’s and Southeast Asia’s leading groups of digital marketing solutions providers. The company operates as an ecosystem in which group companies support one another and work together to help clients achieve the greatest success in business. At present, YDM Thailand has more than 200 employees, serves more than 865 clients worldwide, and has a total of 9 affiliated companies, comprising:

• Adyim – provider of Digital Marketing Solutions

• Gottimize – specialist in online media planning and buying

• Alternate65 (ALT65) – owner of the REVU platform, specializing in product reviews through micro influencers

• AVG Thailand – provider of digital marketing services for Thai brands seeking to enter the China market

• AdPocket – Thailand’s number one mobile screen advertising provider

• Doer – a software development platform with a network of more than 200 freelancers

• Nawin Consultant – a digital-era brand consultancy and owner of the Creative Buddy concept

• Jamjaras – provider of comprehensive Phutorn Marketing services (newly launched)

• FCB Bangkok – a creative advertising agency specializing in advertising planning, brand communication, creative design, and media production

About ‘FCB BANGKOK’

FCB BANGKOK is part of FCB International, a major US agency network founded 145 years ago. Previously operating under the name Interactive Communications, FCB BANGKOK became a partner of FCB International in 2012. The agency specializes in advertising planning, advertising campaign management, creative design and production, and marketing campaign design for businesses across many industries. It currently handles brands including Nivea, Nivea Men, and Eucerin, and has experience managing campaigns for M150, Electrolux appliances, TATA automobiles, and the Whizdom 101 real estate project, among others. FCB Bangkok currently has a team of 35 people.