PHILIPPINES – JULY 20, 2011 – We’ve heard of pop-up agencies before, but none with a lifespan as brief as Saatchi & Saatchi Cebu, which launched on May 31 and practically disappeared two months later.
According to insiders, neither Ace Saatchi & Saatchi in Manila or Saatchi & Saatchi in Asia-Pacific was aware of this venture.
It was found that Saatchi & Saatchi Cebu was an initiative of Publicis Healthcare in New York, meant as a Business Process Outsourcing company focused on communications for the pharmaceutical industry.
According to SunStar Cebu, which reported the launch, the plans for Saatchi & Saatchi Cebu was for it to be a full-service ad agency by the last quarter of 2012.
Management of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, which has operated in the Philippines for 47 years, only learned about the presence of the Cebu agency through Facebook a few weeks ago.
No explanation has been given on why the Saatchi name was used without the knowledge of the network. Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Healthcare belong to the same global holding company Publicis Groupe.
Said Arthur Young, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi chairman, "By using the Saatchi name and not consulting with the group, there was a big disconnect. However everything was resolved very quickly and corrective measures have been taken. We do not want them to pull out entirely as we believe that there is rich Philippine talent that can be mined here."
Few traces of Saatchi & Saatchi Cebu remain, with its Facebook page and online job postings all pulled from the web, only for caches to uncover. There is no word yet on the new name, but it is certain that Saatchi & Saatchi Cebu is no more.
