Last week, Innocean Worldwide Global CEO William Lee announced that the company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for strategic collaboration with ADK, the Japanese agency with a 67-year history.
At the MOU signing ceremony, which took place at the ADK headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, executives of both companies, including Lee and ADK HD President & Group CEO Toshiya Oyama, celebrated the strategic partnership to explore new businesses and joint investment opportunities and exchange creative capabilities.
Founded in 1956, ADK has 11 offices throughout Japan in addition to its Tokyo headquarters, as well as global affiliates in 13 countries around the world. ADK offers a full range of marketing services which includes creative planning/production, brand consulting, UI/UX, web design, space design, digital marketing, media planning/purchasing, content planning/production, IP and loyalty business.
Innocean and ADK will establish a dedicated collaboration team based on this MOU, and both companies will engage in exchanges of core creative resources and capabilities, explore new businesses, and seek joint investment ventures.
Innocean said that it plans to undertake the role of a “bridgehead” for Korean companies looking to enter the Japanese market and actively develop new business opportunities in Japan.
Furthermore, Japanese clients of ADK are also expected to enter the Korean market through Innocean.
Lee stated, “It is critical to establish a partnership with a capable company when entering the Japanese advertisement market,” and added, “Innocean and ADK are planning to offer unprecedented global service by combining the strengths and unique capabilities of the two agencies.”
Innocean India MD and CEO Jae Ho Yoo mentioned that Innocean India will also be looking forward to forging meaningful alignments/ collaborations in the Indian market to expand its business here. “We are here to deeply entrench ourselves in the Indian market and be a part of its growth story. We are not here just as the branch of a global marketing communications company”.
Santosh Kumar, the COO of Innocean India, said, “The objective of new collaborations besides being able to add to the bottom line, is also to enhance the scope of service offerings for their current clients here in India. “Leveraging the relevant domain capabilities of new partners to delight our clients by providing solutions to the evolving complexities in appealing to the new age audience’s mindset is extremely important,” he said.