Project WorldWide seeks acquisitions to expand in Asia

Over the next year, the company is likely to pick up agencies in China and India, said Mike Amour, Project WorldWide’s CEO, Asia Pacific. Amour also confirmed the company is interested in expanding its footprint in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. The company is in preliminary talks with certain digital, shopper-marketing and public-relations firms. The former Grey Group Asia CEO declined to disclose the names of the agencies. "Asia-Pacific is increasingly becoming the focus for Project Worldwide," he said. 

At present, Asia makes up about 20 per cent of the company’s US$1 billion revenue. According to Amour, last year the business grew 20 per cent year-on-year. He expects growth to be similar in the coming year. With offices in China, India, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, it has over 500 employees in the region.

Amour stressed that for any future deal, skill sets and culture would need to be complimentary. "Being independent and privately held means we are not looking to be the biggest, but we are certainly looking to delveop the best engagement marketing network in the world, with collaboration at its core," he said. Other key considerations would be good leadership and a complementary client roster. “Given that our strength lies in automotive clients and information technology, we’d be looking for an agency that has a strong FMCG portfolio, for instance.”

Project WorldWide was created as a holding company in 2010. Since then, the employee-owned firm has been adding agencies steadily, including Australian agency Spinifex Group, Juxt Interactive, Raumtechnik, Partners + Napier, Affinitive and, most recently, digital shop Motive.

Its clients list consists of IMB, Cisco, SAP, SalesForce.com, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, and recent new business wins include Standard Chartered in Singapore.