Ex-Ogilvy MD Hosts new agency

Singapore - Australia-based agency Host has launched its first international office in Singapore, led by ex-managing director of Ogilvy Advertising Singapore Dan Gibson.The agency, which is 51% Havas owned, said that Host Singapore is the first of several regional ‘hubs'. It will look to launching offices in Shanghai and San Francisco next. Host Singapore's founding clients will include The Coca-Cola Company and Tourism Western Australia.The agency also claims that it has several other brands under its belt but declined to reveal these. These brands are understood to be both local and global accounts.The office will be led by managing director, Dan Gibson. Gibson (pictured, centre) was last managing director of Ogilvy Advertising. Prior to that he spent seven years at 180 Amsterdam leading the global adidas business and first began his career at BBH in London.According to founder and regional CEO, Anthony Freedman, the agency believes in building a "unique pan Pacific business, spanning the world's biggest economy in the US, across the region to the world's fastest growing economy in China.""It will be a true micro-network of hub offices, fluid and inter-connected in San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore and Shanghai, providing a regional presence across North America, Australasia, South East Asia and Greater China," he said.Freedman added that the partnership with Havas Worldwide will allow these hub offices to distribute campaigns through a network of multiple offices.The agency was first launched in Sydney in 2000 and operates on a collaborative model that allows it to work with external creative partners.In July 2011 Host established a partnership with Havas and saw the French group acquiring 51% of the business whilst allowing Host's founders to maintain control of the operations of the business.