Abdullah Alkury takes charge of digital agency Columbus' Malaysia ops

Under the Dentsu Aegis Network, Australian digital firm Columbus is breaking into the Malaysia market.  This is Dentsu Aegis Network’s  second digital performance brand in Malaysia and operates in parallel with Consider iProspect as a sister agency.Columbus’ key proposition is to "forge meaningful marketing connections between people, brand and ideas". The agency offers digital services that span across search, social, content, and analytics. With data, insight and technology as part of its core offering, the agency claims to provide “intelligence-led” performance solutions for clients.Abdullah Alkury (pictured left) has been appointed as the managing director to lead the new agency. Previously, Alkury was the head of business development at Consider iProspect. Joining him at the senior leadership team is former Consider iProspect associate Matthew Wong (pictured right), who has been named as the business director.During a conversation with A+M, Alkury said Columbus made known its plans of expanding into Asia in early October 2015. He said:This move to set up an office in Malaysia is part of the overall strategy for innovation and growth in digital within this market.He added with the company has been largely scaling its business, and has eyes set on an agenda of 100% digital economy business by 2020."Our vision and productivity road map are aligned; the foundation is laid for the next level of growth for both. It is a mix between the right timing, robust resources, and readiness of the market that fuelled the expansion," he added."By shifting our approach, between both the challenges our clients are exposed to, and the opportunity to spin these familiar problems in new ways is key. In this business no one size fits all, you have to come equipped with the right resources, quickly adjust to the trends, and keep up," he said.Nicky Lim, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia said setting up Columbus in Malaysia further accentuates the group's strategy in pushing forward with our digital marketing proposition. He added:Furthermore, we have our eyes set on becoming a 100% digital economy business.Driving the Asian expansion, Rosemary Lising, managing director, Columbus Asia said, “While performance and experience lie at the core of most brands today, Malaysia sits in a region that is still in the early stages of realising the potential digital has to offer brands.”"We are optimistic in capitalising these opportunities through our expertise in providing 'intelligence-led' performance solutions to create business value for our clients," Lising added.Established in Australia in 2006, it began expanding into Asia in 2016 and since then, Columbus has expanded across Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and now Malaysia, bringing its total operations to eight offices across Asia Pacific including Australia and New Zealand.