M&C Saatchi Indonesia launches shopper arm, names Mike Forster MD

M&C Saatchi Indonesia has launched M&C Saatchi Shopex and brought Mike Forster as the new managing director on board. The division is designed to deliver omnichannel shopper and brand experience solutions to clients. The scope of services from M&C Saatchi Shopex includes Shopper strategy, retail design and production, shopper technology, planogramming, interactive display technology, events and activation, metaverse solutions, e-commerce integration (O2O) as well as shopper performance research and analytics, among others.

Meanwhile, Forster was brought on board given his extensive experience in the shopper marketing space. He last held the role of CEO of Geometry Global Korea. Having 19 years of experience in WPP agencies, he has held end-market, regional and global leadership roles. In his 12 years in Asia, he has run businesses in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea and Indonesia. He has also led work for China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Bangladesh and The Philippines. His expertise include strategic communications planning, digital commerce, e-commerce, retail and brand activation.

Commenting on the developments, Anish Daryani, founder and president director of M&C Saatchi Indonesia said given the omni-channel environment in which consumers interact with brands, every consumer touchpoint is an opportunity for brands to create an experience. "We are launching M&C Saatchi Shopex to meet that very need. As a specialism, we will map and curate customer journeys, online, offline and everything in between. Not only do we have the capability of creating memorable experiences, but also measure their impact with respect to how they contribute to commerce," he shared.

He added that M&C Shopex is all about brand experience to commerce.  “We create brand experiences that will lead to conversion and sales. Through our understanding of consumers, shoppers and retailers, we create programs and experiences which influence consumer behaviour so that they change their behaviour to purchase our clients’ brands or buy them more often,” he said.

Daryani added that a team of specialists that have mastered the art of shopper and experiential marketing across markets have also been put together to service Indonesia clients. While he could not share the name of the clients at the time of writing due to confidentiality clauses, he said work is currently already underway. In total, M&C Saatchi Shopex has a network of over 60 execution partners, including 20 partners that cover all 34 provinces across Indonesia, with the ability to provide 24/7 brand support in nationwide outreach programs. To date, 17 shopper technology partners have empaneled themselves into M&C Saatchi Shopex’s roster.

"In Foster, we see the leadership and experience to make M&C Saatchi Shopex one of the most profitable verticals of our business, while delivering value to our clients at many multiples over their investments,” Daryani added.

Foster added, "I was seduced by the stupendous growth story of M&C Saatchi Indonesia and was eager to be a part of it. Indonesia is far behind its consumers’ expectations around brand experience, and I’m here to pioneer a new commerce and brand experience movement in the country through M&C Saatchi Shopex. With the growth potential in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, in a country of 171 million internet users that loves its malls too, now is the perfect time to launch our commerce-focused specialisms."

Moray MacLennan, global CEO and chairman, M&C Saatchi Group also shared that Indonesia has been one of M&C Saatchi's top performing businesses. "Innovation and capacity creation have been key to their growth. The launch of M&C Saatchi Shopex delivers on our commitment to offering connected creativity to our clients,” MacLennan added.

More here on the launch of the new offering:

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE:  Why did you launch it in Indonesia at this time?

Daryani and Foster: There no other agency is delivering the full suite of services that Shopex is offering.  Many companies are doing one or more of the services but no-one has our complete set of services here. Also, post pandemic the need to deliver seamless brand experience O2O and to understand the way retail has changed (and hasn’t) means the requirement for a dedicated team of specialists has never been more important.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Are there any trends you are seeing in this space post the pandemic?

Daryani and Foster: Yes many. Some of the key ones include the fact that omnichannel shoppers spend on average 25% more than other shoppers (Dunn Humby RPI study 2022) and retail experience is a key component of what consumers want right now. Around 90.6% of Indonesian consumers want to shop offline again, but 66.7% of them want the Mall to be reformatted so that the mix and experience is more interactive (Inventure 2021 Retail Megatrends).

People are craving that social interaction and human contact again but simultaneously 86% of Asian consumers expect a brand to be available online – so an omnichannel model is essential for brands post pandemic.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How will you differentiate from your competitors?

Daryani and Foster: We are offering a range of services that no other agency is offering under one roof here in Indonesia. We believe that the commerce space is the most fertile playing field for brands and companies to grow as it acknowledges that consumers are in total control of how, when and what they buy and the engagement they want with brands.

Our team is comprised entirely of specialists who have developed their careers in retail, activation or digital commerce and have an innate understanding of the dynamics of the current IRL / Virtual marketplace.

Lastly, we have a set of proprietary tools created to uniquely measure and improve marketing efforts in this space. One of our key tools is to measure The Brand Experience Gap. This set of metrics allows us to analyse activity a brand has carried out and measure where it has succeeded and where fallen short on creating brand equity and driving sales.

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