Beam Suntory toasts to new digital agency partnership spanning 6 SEA markets

Beam Suntory has appointed M&C Saatchi Performance to handle digital duties until April 2022 for key countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia. The agency is responsible for digital media planning, buying and strategy across key Beam Suntory brands such as Jim Beam, Auchentoshan, Roku, and Strong Zero, among others. The appointment follows a pitch held from February to March this year which saw three other agencies vying for the account. Work has since rolled out in April this year. 

Beam Suntory's MD, Southeast Asia, Adeep Gupta, said digitalisation is a key theme to reach and engage consumers and it is thrilled to partner with M&C Saatchi Performance to set a new benchmark in Southeast Asia. "We are very happy to bring M&C Saatchi Performance on board as our partners on some of our most prestigious brands," Gupta said.

Meanwhile, M&C Saatchi Performance's APAC MD, Kabeer Chaudhary, said this is an exciting opportunity for the agency and it looks forward to leveraging its deep market knowledge to drive transformative digital strategies in an industry that has traditionally been focused on offline media. "Over the next year, we will be working closely with the Beam Suntory team to consolidate their digital presence in Southeast Asia and hope this will be the beginning of a long-lasting relationship," he added.

At the same time, Christian Gladwell, CEO at M&C Saatchi Performance, added that over the past few years, it has helped several global brands transition towards a more digital approach through insights-driven media strategies and he is confident that leveraging the expertise of the team in the region will fasten Beam Suntory’s connection to today’s digital audiences.

M&C Saatchi Performance has been on a roll in recent months bagging several regional account. Recently, Tinder also matched up with M&C Saatchi Performance for performance marketing duties in Southeast Asia. M&C Saatchi Performance said in a LinkedIn post that it looks forward to playing an integral role in charting out Tinder's next phase of growth and establishing a long and fruitful partnership. 

All of these wins comes shortly after the agency promoted Kabeer Chaudhary to the role of MD APAC. Chaudhary previously served as managing partner, APAC for the past two years and has been with the agency since 2015. This comes as former MD APAC Chris Steedman returned to the UK last December and is currently on a year-long sabbatical following the birth of his second child. 

M&C Saatchi Performance’s team is currently 91-man strong spread across six office in APAC. According to M&C Saatchi Performance's spokesperson, the agency is "expanding at a reasonable rate" and Chaudhary's vision is to turn it into the top performance marketing agency in the region, trusted by clients and partners alike.

To achieve this vision, Chaudhary plans to work with the team to create a trustworthy, transparent, and consultative marketing ecosystem for clients to be able to leverage on.

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