Byravee Iyer Sophie Chen
Nov 28, 2013

Text100 shuts Japan office

TOKYO - PR agency Text100 has closed its Tokyo office and laid off its three consulting staff, the agency told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Anne Costello
Anne Costello

Text100 opened in Japan in 1998 and services clients such as Kraft, Lenovo, Rakuten, NHN Line, Autodesk and Gartner.  

Anne Costello, regional director for Text100, attributed the decision to evolving client needs and high operational costs in Japan. “Our clients were asking for integrated communication services that cross earned, owned, paid and social channels, and we can meet these requirements in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India and China but unfortunately, these could not be met under the current Japan structure.”

The closure is also part of Text100’s global strategy to invest more resources in growth markets India and China, Costello said.
 
The agency will work with partners in the market. “Japan is a very fragmented market characterized by specialist agencies,” Costello said. “We believe that partnering with select independent agencies will best suit the needs of our multinational clients.”

Text100 has picked Inoue Public Relations and J-Spin as its partners in the country. The company said it has communicated the changes to clients. While some of them will work with Inoue and J-Spin, others have decided to find new partners or take their communications in-house.

Source:
Campaign Asia

Related Articles

Just Published

3 hours ago

Of fandom, kawaii, and marketing: Hello Kitty turns 50

Campaign dissects the secret sauce to Hello Kitty’s iconic global domination, its grasp of the timeless kawaii concept, and its astute understanding of nostalgia.

4 hours ago

Performance vs. branding? You're asking the wrong ...

While marketers wage endless war over metrics versus memory, the smartest brands have already moved on, argues Quantum's Saim Qadri.

4 hours ago

The best Christmas ads of 2024 are here

A roundup of the best Christmas ads, brimming with creativity and festive cheer. This list is live and will be updated continuously, so check back often for the freshest holiday inspiration.

8 hours ago

SearchGPT: How to adapt for the AI search engine era

Welcome to a new chapter in content marketing. Late October marked the debut of OpenAI’s artificial intelligence-driven engine, transforming the way we think about search optimisation.