Ogilvy in pact with Bangladesh agency

Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (O&M) today signed an agreement with Marka, a Bangladesh-based advertising agency, to establish a full-service brand communications agency.

O&M will own majority shares in the agency, which will be called Ogilvy & Mather Communications Private Ltd. The clients for the new agency would be a mix of the current clients of Marka and Ogilvy's global and regional clients.

"This new Bangladesh agency completes the foundation to our South Asia strategy", says Miles Young, chairman, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific.

"We have a strong network in India and we just established fully owned operations in Pakistan. At the same time, Marka is well known as a nimble, solutions-oriented player in the local market. This new agency is an opportunity for us to provide our clients with seamless service across South Asia and to marry global resources with the best local know-how," he added.

Commenting on the merger, Pratap Bose, CEO, Ogilvy & Mather India said, "Ogilvy would bring in its full armoury of specialised skills into the Bangladesh market and provide a quantum difference to what clients have traditionally been used to."

Among the other major global agencies, Leo Burnett has a presence in the country through Bitopi which is affiliated to the global network, but falls under Arvind Sharma, chairman & CEO, Leo Burnett's Indian operations.

Fahima Choudbury, managing partner, Marka, added, "Bangladesh is at the threshold of an advertising boom and this new agency will allow us to ride that boom. The tie-up puts us in a new league and will enable us to immediately mine the demand for comprehensive advertising and activation solutions."