Cheil Worldwide opens in Malaysia, plans further expansion

The addition expands the South Korean company’s global footprint to 41 offices in 35 countries.

The Malaysia operation is tasked to develop new businesses and provide services for clients such as Samsung Malaysia, AIG Malaysia and Hankook Tire. The office has more than 20 employees.

CS Park, president and head of the Southeast Asia regional headquarters at Cheil, said it has been his primary focus to expand the network’s footprint since his appointment about a year ago.

“Malaysia is an active, multi-racial market with a great degree of diversity, thus requiring a high-level of creativity,” he said. “The country has continued to witness a healthy economic growth, and its advertising market has enjoyed even more robust growth. Therefore this is a market where we should invest and prosper.”

Bong Keun Lee, managing director of Cheil Malaysia, noted that Cheil Worldwide is also interested in other markets including Indonesia, Myanmar and New Zealand

The Malaysia office, Lee continued, has made several appointments in digital, retail and experience-based marketing. Lee joined Cheil in 2007. He was dispatched to Dubai in 2010 and Singapore in 2012.

“All these resources will be able to complement the traditional agency offering of ATL and BTL, in order to ensure that we provide the integrated creative solutions-based communications that Malaysian marketers are increasingly asking for,” he said.

Among the recent appointments is Patrick Yap, who joined as deputy managing director from Publicis Malaysia. He previously worked at JWT Beijing and G2 Malaysia.

The agency also appointed Stuart Godwin as creative director. Prior to joining Cheil, he was with XM Expanded Media Malaysia and Digital TBWA/Tequila Malaysia.

The launch of Cheil Malaysia follows new offices in Romania and Sweden in September and May, respectively.