The Observatory shuts SG ops, Richard Bleasdale and Paul Davies seek new ventures

The Observatory International has announced the Singapore consultancy will close at the end of 2018. Asia Pacific Managing Partners, Richard Bleasdale and Paul Davies are set leave the company to move on to new opportunities within the industry.In Asia Pacific, the Observatory will continue with its operations in Japan and Korea and plans to be operational in Hong Kong from the end of the year to service opportunities across Asia Pacific with a particular focus on the Greater China region.In a statement to Marketing, Stuart Pockock co-founder of the firms said the closure of the Singapore office at the end of 2018 has been in the planning for some time. He added that both of partners “have been offered outstanding opportunities in the industry” – details of which will be announced buy their new organisations in due course.“In addition our planning process has enabled us to ensure that all of the remaining staff in the Singapore office have been able to secure ongoing employment. We’re taking the opportunity of Davies and Bleasdale’s departure to completely redesign our Asian network and ensure that we are truly offering the service that our clients need today and tomorrow – with a greater focus on China to match our client needs,” he added.Pockock also said that this has been in the works for “many months” and the results will be announced shortly.“The Singapore office remains open for the rest of the year and there will be no gap in the provision of high-level advice to our clients. Where necessary our global network of consultants based across nine markets including Korea and Japan will assist our APAC based clients,” he said.In 2013, marketer-agency management consultancies, The Observatory International and Roth Associates merged to form Roth Observatory International (ROI) . The merger aims to provide a unified global offering across both businesses’ key markets in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. Combined offices will span across Singapore, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, London, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Warsaw, Zurich and Johannesburg.Clients of The Observatory include the likes of Singapore Tourism Board. It most recently aided STB when it launched an open Request for Proposal (RFP) for a global media planning and buying agency.