ASIA-PACIFIC – THAILAND, MARCH 18, 2013 – XM Asia, a unit of WPP’s JWT, has acquired a majority stake in Thomas Idea, a digital marketing agency based in Thailand, giving the former a foothold in one of Southeast Asia’s most important markets.
Thomas Idea, founded in Bangkok in 1995, offers a full range of digital services, from online strategy planning to user experience design, large-scale application development and the full suite of digital and social media marketing services. The agency employs around 45 people and clients include Beiersdorf, Reckitt Benckiser, Abbott Laboratories, SB Furniture, and Pruksa Real Estate. Thomas Idea CEO Uraiporn “Polly” Cholsirirungskul and Chief Creative Officer Araya Choutgrajank, who together co-founded the company, will remain on in their current leadership roles.
"Thomas Idea is a key acquisition for us as we are preparing ourselves for the further opening of markets through the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 agreement,” said Paul Soon, CEO of XM Asia-Pacific. “We share the same vision of wanting to work with brands that are willing to transform in order to fully capitalise on the fundamental benefits of being more digital.”
XM Asia has offices in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, and last year, acquired Magnivate, Indonesia’s largest digital agency.
“It is a great opportunity to join one of the strongest digital networks in Asia. The synergies with XM Asia, combined with our team’s exceptional skills, will serve to strengthen our digital offering to our clients and expand our scope across the region,” said Cholsirirungskul.
“Digital is not only becoming the core communication for many brands, but is fast becoming the heart of business. The digital wave is now sweeping Thailand, and this deal positions us, and XM, to ride the very edge of that wave,” added Choutgrajank.
This acquisition also comes at a time with Thailand’s social media scene has reached a critical tipping point. Thai Facebook users have hit 18 million in December 2012, a sharp increase from 13 million recorded the same period a year before, making this an important point of communication for the country’s advertisers. According to GroupM, the country’s overall spending on digital advertising grew by 48 percent in 2012.
JWT Asia Pacific has invested heavily in expanding its digital footprint over the last year. In addition to XM Asia’s acquisition of Magnivate, JWT acquired Hungama Digital Services, India’s leading digital agency, and took a stake in Converge, in Pakistan. This latest deal, in Thailand, underscores JWT’s commitment to expand its offerings of technological solutions that optimize consumer engagement experience.
“We have ambitious plans for XM Asia, and more acquisitions are on the horizon. One of our top priorities this year is the continued expansion of our digital offerings, and XM will continue to play a major role in that growth plan,” said Michael Maedel, JWT’s Asia Pacific Chairman.
