Colgate-Palmolive expands Ogilvy's remit in Malaysia

Colgate-Palmolive has expanded its remit with Ogilvy Malaysia to cover strategic and creative communications, digital, and social media duties throughout 2021 across all its business. This includes oral care and home care brands such as Colgate, Softlan, and Elmex. This expanded remit comes after both parties worked together on the #SMILESTRONGBERSAMA (#SmileStrongTogether) campaign last year, championing positive change within the community particularly during uncertain times.

The agency is responsible for creating local campaigns in collaboration with Red Fuse, a global WPP team dedicated to serving Colgate-Palmolive worldwide. Edith Marquez-Reyes, marketing director of Colgate-Palmolive for Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei, said the team had a fantastic run with Ogilvy last year where it demonstrated strategic excellence in creative and content development. Ogilvy also showed a strong digital roll out which Marquez-Reyes said anchored its #SMILESTRONGBERSAMA campaign to success.

"This has given us the confidence to extend our partnership with the agency to manage our entire portfolio of brands in 2021. We believe Ogilvy is one of the best creative agencies for us to collaborate and together we can continuously drive growth for our brands in Malaysia," she added.

Meanwhile, Ogilvy Malaysia's chief executive Nizwani Shahar said the Colgate-Palmolive team has shown it is willing to take calculated risks to make its brands matter and that its commitment to sustainability resonates with Ogilvy. 

"With our deep understanding of local consumer needs combined with our integrated modern marketing approach, we look forward to doing more creative and innovative engagements to support and fortify their brand saliency in the market," Nizwani said. 

Separately, Ogilvy recently merged its Singapore and Malaysia offices to present one agency in two locations. Nizwani, who is part of the newly integrated leadership team, was appointed to lead advertising, brand and content while retaining her current role as chief executive. At the same time, Sunita Kanapathy, head, PR and influence, Malaysia, was also appointed to lead PR and influence alongside president of PR and influence, Asia Emily Poon and executive director, PR and influence Q Akashah.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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