Dean Cloke and John Bailey head up new DDB Group Indonesia

The new agency will service regional and globally-aligned clients including Johnson & Johnson, Philips, Tourism Australia, Unilever and Novartis.

This majority-owned venture opens its doors a month after DDB Worldwide announced its split from Daya Maha Berkarya (DMB) after a nine-year partnership.

DMB, together with Advis, Brainstorm and M2M Interface, then formed a partnership under the Nava+ group of brands, with new focus on brand experience.

It was subsequently announced that the Nava+ Group would partner Iris Worldwide for that agency’s entry into Indonesia.

Douglas Faudet, vice chairman, DDB Group Asia Pacific said that although the network has been in Indonesia for some time, the investment into this new agency is “a real stake in the ground for DDB. It marks the commitment that we’re making to the fourth largest population in the world.”

Continued Faudet, “We’ve taken a majority share with Dean and John as our partners – and we couldn’t have asked for a better duo to run our agency in Indonesia. Combined, they have been in Indonesia for more than a decade – our local knowledge can’t be matched by any other global communications agency in the country.”

Dean Cloke, managing director of DDB Group Indonesia, has worked in Indonesia with Lowe and McCann Worldgroup. Prior to joining DDB Group he was regional vice president of WPP’s Ogilvy RedWorks in Singapore.

His experience spans many industries including finance, retail, information technology, travel, automobiles and FMCG. Clients he has worked with in Indonesia include Indosat, Bii Bank, Sampoerna, Carrefour, GM, Nestle and Unilever.

Three times Cannes winner John Bailey, executive creative director, DDB Group Indonesia, has worked in the country for a total of seven years with global agencies such as JWT and McCann Worldgroup. His last role was as executive creative director at Ogilvy Redworks Singapore. Bailey has worked on local brands such as BNI, Indofood and Indosat and has a wealth of experience in a range of industries including fmcg, automotive, tourism, and airlines.

John Zeigler, chairman and CEO of DDB Group Asia Pacific, said their position is clear and the network is stronger than ever. “Where initially our strength was only Pacific, we now have the most successful agencies in Greater China; our recent acquisition of Mudra Communications in India makes us one of the largest global agencies in India; and DDB Group is the leading agency in Singapore.”

“The breadth of coverage and depth of services we offer is unrivalled – we’re the only regional network offering a cohesive collaboration of world leading communication businesses. There’s no better time to take the Indonesian market by storm,” he added.

Describing Indonesia as a very exciting market right now, Cloke said that he and Bailey have the opportunity to build something very special there. “We're confident that we will continue to attract some of the best talent and produce some truly world-class work. These are exciting times for us, DDB and Indonesia,” he said.