Bailey|Capel formed by ex-DDB Indonesia heads, DDB Asia says client work handled by affiliates

Managing partners John Bailey (pictured left) and Brian Capel (pictured right) have formed Bailey|Capel as it ceases the use of the DDB name in Indonesia. Capel, who was previously CEO of Publicis Groupe Indonesia, joined DDB Indonesia in June this year, while Bailey has been the president and ECD of DDB Group Indonesia for over a decade. Although fully independent, Bailey|Capel will still be supporting DDB Indonesia clients post the formation of the new agency. However, neither DDB nor Bailey|Capel specified which brands will remain with the newly formed entity.

When asked if DDB will be pulling out from Indonesia, its spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that it has ceased its name licence agreement with Bailey|Capel as the latter goes independent. "It is not a buyout. We wish them well and look forward to working with them in the future," the spokesperson said. She added that DDB works with its clients in Indonesia under Tribal and its Omnicom Group entities. "As Indonesia goes through digital acceleration, we’re looking to strengthen our solutions in business transformation and social commerce. More to come ahead," she said.

Meanwhile, in a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, both Bailey and Capel said they felt the idea of being a small, independent creative agency would breathe new life into the company. The idea to form Bailey|Capel came about as the duo shared a similar philosophy of people, product, and profit - in that order. "Find the right people, inspire and encourage them to explore and experiment and they will create great work for our clients and with that, the profits will come," they said.

Since June, the agency has already scored several new business wins, including Honda Prospect Motor and new hard seltzer brand Juho. According to Bailey|Capel, Juho is a brand with tight budgets and big dreams, and this has given the newly formed independent "an open book to create a brand new story". These wins add to the agency’s list of great clients who all believe in the power of creativity and trusted partnerships, the two said.

Bailey told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that post the creation of the new agency, there will be no leadership or team change. However, he did not share the monetary investment made into the new entity. "Our clients enjoy working with us because of the people we have on their business. We are agile and we treat all briefs as a client business challenge or/and opportunity, so our clients get the focus of every senior person in the company, including both me and Capel," he added.

When asked about the type of clients they are targeting, Bailey said: "We are very bad vendors, but we are very good partners". He explained that anyone can be a vendor, and as a vendor, one becomes a commodity which means one ends up competing on price – but that’s not the type of relationship Bailey|Capel wants to enter into.

"We prefer clients who want an agency partner to challenge and build on their business and communications objectives. We would love to work with such clients. For clients who need an agency to do what they say, we are so sorry, we are not the ‘vendors’ they need or want," he added.

Capel added that be it regional or local brand partners, all the agency wants is for clients who have a “deep desire to succeed and they need a partner to work with them, advise them and build their brand.” “These are clients that Bailey|Capel would love to work with,” he added.

How does Bailey|Capel plan to stand out?

DDB Indonesia is not the first network agency in the country to have sold to local leadership. IPG, for example, sold MullenLowe Indonesia to local management holding company Lintas Agra Perkasa last year. Despite the presence of several network and independent agencies in Indonesia's competitive ad industry, Capel told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that every agency has its own vision and ambitions.

He describes Bailey|Capel as a group of like-minded individuals who believe that creativity through understanding people’s behavior, will help clients businesses to grow. "From how people feel about our clients brands, to a ‘Buy now’ message, there is always a story to tell. It’s always about how appealing the story is.”

He added this belief could be because both managing partners hail from a creative background.

Capel and Bailey have spent most of their career working in network agencies. Capel, for example, spent close to four years as CEO of Publicis Groupe Indonesia and was previously the Groupe's chief creative officer for 12 years in Indonesia. He also worked at Leo Burnett Indonesia as chief creative officer and Ogilvy Malaysia as creative director. Before taking charge of DDB Indonesia, Bailey was ECD at Ogilvy RedWorks for close to two years and was also ECD for DDB Indonesia before that, according to his LinkedIn. He also worked at McCann Worldgroup and JWT Indonesia as ECD, as well as Clemenger BBDO as director.

"Be it DDB with Bailey, or Publicis Groupe with me, we have always felt like it was us running our own business. In fact, for Bailey, DDB for the last five years has been 100% locally owned so it is no different. But one thing for sure, when you have your name on the door, the responsibility to do the best for our clients’ business, have gone up to 1,000%," Capel explained. He added that Bailey has also built a great culture with passionate people and a very "informal environment", which is they the agency has consistently produced very interesting work. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to DDB Asia for comment.

Read the rest of the interview here:

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What type of talent and skills are you looking out for and why?

Capel: As we believe in agility and ownership. It all comes down to how excited you are every day, from the second you open your eyes each morning. If you truly love what you do, you’ll do it better than anyone else. You will want to be involved in everything, engage in discussions with the passion that it’s your brand at stake and along the way, most importantly, have lots of laugh with Bailey’s dark, intelligent humour and my corny comebacks.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What type of talent do agencies in Indonesia need nowadays? How can they attract these talents?

Bailey: Bill Bernbach once said that he looks for people with “a deep insight into human nature because the real basis for persuasion is to understand want motivates people”. And that remains the same today. So that’s the kind of talent we look for. Whatever their role in the company, the keyword remains "talent". More than ever before, coming out from an unprecedented 2020-2021, every client business has accelerated their strategies, and to support that, every agency needs to find the right talent. The need is there. Which means the opportunity for talent is there. It’s a matter of that talent finding the right environment to help them in their growth and in their journey.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What advice do you have for brands that want to expand into Indonesia?

Bailey: Find partners who dare to challenge you, help you discover different perspectives, not vendors who will happily do as you say and take your brief, cleverly rewrite in and give it back to you as their own. Tragically, something lots of agencies continue to do. Hopefully, something clients are beginning to see through. As we said earlier, don’t settle for a vendor, hunt for the right partner!