Deloitte fires up digital marketing capabilities in SEA with 2 new agency additions

Deloitte Digital is expanding its practice in Southeast Asia with two boutique creative agencies, Pixel People and The Union. This move was in response to the increased digital marketing demands from clients, fuelled by the rise in digital usage among consumers. Based in Malaysia and Singapore, the teams will be bringing along capabilities in growth marketing and Adobe suite of services. Deloitte has confirmed to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that this was not an acquisition. 

According to Deloitte, the additional personnel will augment Deloitte Digital’s capabilities to offer a deeper and broader range of services. This, in turn, will help organisations grow and scale their digital marketing strategies, driving sustainable growth through human-centred experiences. 

Deloitte Southeast Asia's consulting regional managing director, Eugene Ho said: “I am excited to welcome our new colleagues to Deloitte. With them as part of the team, we will be able to further enhance Deloitte Digital’s offerings and strengthen our position as a leading Adobe consultancy in the region".

Ho added that the Pixel People and The Union had expertise and credentials that were synergistic with the firm's service offerings. This allows Deloitte Southeast Asia to drive growth and elevate the customer experience for its clients with data-driven creativity and technology-driven marketing, explained Ho. 

"Deloitte Digital has always been at the forefront of delivering growth through experiences and technology. The experience of our new colleagues will complement and enhance our existing industry-leading capabilities, which include implementing and activating customer experience (CX) technologies to drive successful outcomes for our clients," said Irwin Lim, advertising, marketing and commerce offering leader for Deloitte Digital in Southeast Asia. 

Meanwhile, former co founders of Pixel People, Fern Yit Lim and Nev Simms said the agency appreciated the common values and commitment that is shared with Deloitte Digital. This, in turn, led to a natural progression to be part of Deloitte. "We are confident that the combination of our people and our focus on using data to transform our clients’ businesses, and drive their performance marketing will deliver a winning value proposition," Lim and Simms added. 

Similarly, The Union's co founder, Hui Jun Chua said: "I look forward to being part of a team that produces award-winning creative work and contributing to Deloitte’s growth across Southeast Asia in the marketing and commerce space," Chua added. 

Meanwhile, the company also recently hired Ben Israel as digital marketing lead for Deloitte Digital in Southeast Asia. Israel joined from TBWA\Group Singapore where he was global brand director handling the Singapore Airlines account. Prior to the role, Israel was with BBDO for three years where he also held the GM title.

Israel also had a seven-year stint with Edelman As the lead and director of Edelman Digital, he was responsible for harnessing the firm’s intellectual capital, resources and expertise on social media to help clients engage in multi-stakeholder, multi-channel, real-time and transparent dialogues to achieve specific business outcomes. 

He has managed a range of brands that includes Mastercard, Microsoft, DHL, Motorola, Unilever, Petronas and Shell. According to his LinkedIn, he built and led the Edelman Digital arm in Kuala Lumpur. Israel also worked with CIMB's BHLB Trustee and Citibank as an assistant manager and marketing officer respectively.

Last year, Deloitte Digital launched a new offering named Ethos that is designed to help business leaders, including CMOs, CXOs and heads of product, develop breakthrough programmes, products and campaigns related to global issues like racial and gender equity, sustainability, climate change and social welfare. The new offering builds on Deloitte Digital’s ambition to elevate the human experience by bringing together societal issues specialists with consultants and strategists to develop scalable solutions to tackle society’s most difficult challenges.

At the same time, the company collaborated with Verizon Business to unveil a new digital platform early last year, to bring the benefits of 5G to the retail industry. The partnership paired Verizon's 5G and mobile edge compute with Deloitte's retail expertise and aimed to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency. Incorporating video and sensors, AI, and augmented reality with "near-real-time analytics", the platform would be able to help stores better engage with customers, manage inventory, and ensure employee productivity.

Related articles:
Deloitte agrees to pay MY govt US$80m to resolve 1MDB scandal
Verizon and Deloitte bring 5G to retail
Deloitte partners SG-based Jupiter Chain for 'fully transparent' data solution
Deloitte Southeast Asia acquires digital forensic company