Naked (finally) opens in Singapore
Naked has announced the management team for its Singapore offering with Imogen Hewitt(left) relocating to Singapore from the Australian operations as joint managingdirector with Lowe Singapore’s Richard Leong.
The Singapore office reports into Australia which is managed by founding partners AdamFerrier and Mike Wilson along with Phil Hayden, managing partner of NakedAustralia.
Hayden became a partner at Naked when Bellamyhayden, the consultancy he co-founded with Simon Bellamy was folded into Naked last year by the troubled Photon Group
He’s been spending a significant amount of time in South-East Asia since last September when Naked announced it would have a Singapore office up and running before the end of 2010. It will serve as a regional office for the South East Asian region.
But this is not the first time Naked has attempted to set-up shop in Singapore. Back in2006, the Sydney partners outlined their ambitions to B&T to expandthroughout Asia with partners Matthew Baxter, Adam Ferrier and Mike Wilsonsetting out on a fact-finding mission to choose which Asian countries to spreadNaked’s “media-neutral” message.
At the time Baxter said he was flying to Singapore to shore up the opening of theSingaporean office, which he said would be ready within six to eight weeks.
It was initially flagged as servicing the Asian needs of an (unnamed) existing client,won in a global pitch with an international search underway for someone to headup the office with plans for three staff, reporting to the Sydney office.
Naked Australia was not available for comment at the time of posting.However in a press statement, Jon Wilkins, GlobalFounder of Naked, who was in Singapore this week for the opening, added: “Wehave experienced a demand for Naked from South East Asia for some time. We have taken our time to get a great management team in place and are now looking for further talent to join the agency. “
Hayden said that Naked is a unique brand with lots of momentum and success in recent times.
“We are confident that there is significant opportunity for us in Asia and we therefore have a strong proactive plan for the region,” he said. “Adding a presence in an important strategic centre such as Singapore is a first step in driving growth in South East Asia and we’re looking forward to introducing our fantastic global and regional client base to the new offering. It’s an exciting time for the Naked brand worldwide.”
3 Comments
And presumably the dress code for the opening party will be…
So is this a joint venture with Lowe Singapore?
“Imogen Hewitt (left) relocating to Singapore from the Australian operations as joint managing director with Lowe Singapore’s Richard Leong”
No. Richard used to work at Lowes – among other places. That’s it.