Former Riverorchid Notch MD’s Tarun Dhawan launches digital agency in Vietnam

Tarun Dhawan, former managing director of Riverorchid Notch has launched a new digital agency called Moblaze in Vietnam. Dhawan will lead the agency which offers services ranging from strategy, creative, social, to media and analytics.He will be leading the office personally and has already partnered with several agencies in the market. Dhawan declined to however comment on which agencies.Dhawan added that the agency is still in its startup phase, "Moblaze kicked off its brand new chapter by partnering with a few other bigger agencies, to provide mobile advertising services for their clients."In a statement to A+M, he said the office will be headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, and from there, it will manage clients across Indochina. He added 80% of consumers in Indochina spend their time on mobile devices, which is why mastering mobile has become the most important management task for agencies and brands."We want to help agencies and brands navigate and master the mobile tsunami.” Dhawan (pictured) said, adding at present, only a handful of people have the experience and understanding of working across digital in Indochina.At the moment, Dhawan said the agency's clients are primarily based in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. It’s looking at expanding to other markets in the region such Thailand and Laos. Moblaze, which focuses on its mobile expertise - has hired seven people so far, with four based in Vietnam, and it plans to hire more in the region as it grows.Dhawan joined Notch Digital as its managing director in 2012 and was heavily involved in merging the agency with Riverorchid after a year. In 2015, he led Havas’ acquisition of the agency, before deciding to resign.