Media agency Zenith Optimedia has finally launched new network Blue 449 in Asia Pacific, led by Zenith Optimedia’s regional MD of international clients Nico Guiridlian based in Hong Kong.
The new network, which is born out of Walker Media, the British media buying Publicis Groupe acquired in 2014, is positioned as ‘the open source media agency’ with a focus on innovation.
“You may have heard that ZenithOptimedia launched globally this new agency a few months ago and it is now time for us to launch it here in HK/APAC,” Guiridlian said in an eDM sent to contacts this afternoon. He takes on the role of Hong Kong and APAC MD.
The network takes a hub approach to its geographical spread, with APAC offices in Singapore and Sydney as well as Hong Kong. In Sydney, the agency’s key people are listed on its website as including John Preston, the head of Match Media, the agency Publicis Groupe acquired in June last year.
In this blurb on the eDM to introduce Blue 449, the copy reads: “Analogue business models have been shattered by the new digital economy. New methods are needed. Today, a media agency must think flexibly, learn fast, respond swiftly, collaborate widely, nurture technology, amplify ideas, read data and operate at the very heart of businesses. It must sit at the intersection of data and ideas. There is a parallel for this in technology. It’s called Open Source.”
When the new network was announced a year ago, Steve King, ZO’s and now Publicis Media’s worldwide CEO, said that “the world doesn’t need yet another global media agency network. What it needs is a new force of energy for clients looking to break with traditions. Blue 449 is a realisation of visionary attitudes and thinking set to disrupt the market.”
