GOJEK tipped to be setting up operations in Malaysia

GOJEK has been mulling its entry into Malaysia since January, having launched in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam last year. In a latest development, transport minister Anthony Loke told The Edge  that he met with GOJEK “a month ago” and understands it is in the midst of starting up in Malaysia. Loke added that GOJEK is welcome to form a company in Malaysia as the country embraces foreign investment and GOJEK’s presence in Malaysia will add more competition to the ride hailing market.In a statement to A+M, GOJEK’s spokesperson said that it is always exploring how it can expand its international presence further so more consumers can benefit from GOJEK’s technology. “But we’d rather not speculate on how and when this might occur,” the spokesperson added.When GOJEK launched in Singapore last year to much fanfare, it named Archishman Ramasubramanian to the role of VP – head of marketing. It also named agency partners Havas Media, BLKJ and Ogilvy for media, creative and PR and social communications duties respectively.Since then, it splashed the city state with an OOH campaign highlighting words  such as “promos” and with cheeky lines such as “Hey Goliath, there is a new Dave in town”, “Remember the days you loved ride-sharing, they are back”, and “No more promo fomo” presumably taking jabs at it competitors. Meanwhile, Malaysian ECD VJ Anand also joined the ride hailing company as senior vice president of creative/executive creative director in April last year, after five years as BBDO’s ECD. Currently, he is based in Indonesia where he runs GOJEK’s in-house agency operations.(Read also: Internal vs external: GOJEK on the benefits of an in-house agency)(Photo courtesy: 123RF)