VIDEO: PHD global CEO Mike Cooper on Asia-Pacific growth

Cooper says he is satisfied with how far PHD has come in such a short time, pointing to its high profile new business wins over the past two years, including both global clients such as Unilever and emerging local companies such as Taiwan’s HTC. “We are doing everything right at the moment. I am extremely happy with our progress,” he says.

Despite the agency’s success in markets such as China and Australia, Cooper admits that the agency still has work to do in certain other countries. “In terms of having uniform growth across the region, I don’t think there is any network in Asia-Pacific that has uniform size in every market, Our key objective is to develop the regional relationships with our major clients and that will help us to become strong in all the markets across the region.”

Cooper also addresses the challenge of raising PHD’s brand profile in the region. Having set up OMD in Asia-Pacific, he is only too aware of what it takes to grow a brand across the region.

“It does take time,” he says. “In terms of winning really high profile business across the region and winning Agency of the Year two year’s running, there’s not an awful lot more that you can do, so we will continue our focus on trying to be the thought leader media agency, trying to be more opinionated and having more interesting things to say than any other media agency. In time it will come.”