Ad network Stagwell sets foot in MY, expands Malaysia Airlines tie-up

Stagwell has sunk its roots further into Asia Pacific with the opening of its office in Malaysia. As part of the opening, its travel content and media brand Ink has grown its partnership with Malaysia Airlines to offer sponsorship and advertising opportunities online and offline at the airport, onboard flights, and at home.

Ink is actively hiring to support the expansion while Stagwell's omnichannel media agency Assembly will expand its staff to support the growth ambitions of local brands and continue to support global businesses in the market. A few months ago, Assembly bagged silver for Most Effective Use - Programmatic Marketing at A+M's MARKies Awards 2022 for its project titled "YES Drives Digital Connectivity in Malaysia". Last year, it also walked away with silver for Excellence in Programmatic Marketing for the same campaign at A+M's Marketing Excellence Awards Malaysia 2021.

The expansion comes approximately 10 months after it opened its regional headquarters in Singapore last November, appointing Randy Duax (pictured) as Asia Pacific MD. He told A+M that everywhere Stagwell is opening is a long-term commitment to its clients and its people, adding:

I’ll be short and sweet—in Malaysia we’re looking to hire great people, not cogs in a machine.

"We want people who understand both creativity and technology, who will work with both our network of global clients and with our Malaysian clients looking to expand and export into the region and the rest of the world," he said.

Meanwhile, in January, Stagwell inked an affiliate partnership with Southeast Asian online publisher Coconuts Media as it sought to "meaningfully expand its media investment" in the region and add a key partner with scaled content, production, and distribution capabilities to support global clients.

Stagwell currently has nearly 2,000 employees in Asia Pacific at agencies including Assembly, creative network 72andSunny, communications firm Allison+Partners, creative agency Anomaly, digital transformation agency Code and Theory, and creative collective Forsman & Bodenfors, among others.

Meanwhile, Stagwell's affiliate network now boasts 70 active and independent agency brands. Its partners in the region include Beyond Media Global (Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Sydney, Taipei), creative agency Enormous (Gurgaon, Mumbai), influencer agency Metric Design Studio (Shanghai), and digital and content full-service agency Serviceplan (Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Seoul).

Duax said that as Malaysia celebrates its Independence Day, it is excited to establish its newest global entity in Kuala Lumpur. "The country's GDP grew 9% last quarter and eCommerce transactions are expected to grow 25% per year over the next few years. For the kinds of clients our network serves and the kind of talent we have in our portfolio, we're uniquely positioned to amplify brands into, out of, and within Malaysia," he added.

He joined Stagwell in 2016 as SVP, talent and recruiting, based in New York City. Before that, he was with WPP as talent director for Asia Pacific where he was responsible for senior executive recruitment across WPP’s company holdings and teams in Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo.

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Stagwell adds Coconuts Media to global affiliate network to grow APAC presence