Omnicom merges McCann and MullenLowe Singapore under McCann banner; Paul Soon and Gonzalo Olivera to lead

Following Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic, McCann and MullenLowe Singapore will merge to form a single creative agency under the McCann Singapore banner. MullenLowe’s leadership duo, Paul Soon and Gonzalo Olivera, will take the helm of the new merged agency. The move strengthens Omnicom’s position as the world’s largest advertising and marketing holding company.

While the global transition sees MullenLowe joining TBWA in most regions, the new brand structure in Singapore represents a strategic exception.

Sean Donovan, President, Omnicom Advertising Asia, said: “This decision follows a detailed, market-by-market review conducted by Omnicom. In Singapore, the size and nature of the businesses made McCann and MullenLowe a more natural fit. The two agencies have a proven history of collaboration in pitching and client work in the market, they bring complementary strengths and share a longstanding IPG heritage. Bringing them together creates a future-ready creative powerhouse for Singapore and the broader region.”

The combined agency will offer clients a significantly expanded set of capabilities, backed by greater creative leadership and a deeper regional infrastructure at scale. MullenLowe Singapore brings proven creative leadership, consistently ranked among the country’s top creative agencies, and McCann contributes the strength of a global creative network and deep regional capability. By uniting these strengths, clients gain a single, scaled creative partner able to deliver broader expertise and faster problem-solving across the region.

With access to Omni’s intelligence platform, Acxiom’s precision data, and Omnicom’s connected content engine, the agency will unlock stronger data, technology and production capabilities to enable more targeted, efficient, and modern work across multiple markets.

This builds on a long history of cooperation and cultural alignment between MullenLowe and McCann teams in the Southeast Asian region, with recent collaborations including the ‘Together, for Better’ campaign with Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI), and the Philips ‘Effortless Rush Hour’ campaign in Thailand.

Olivera will take on the newly created role of President of the combined organisation from 1 January, focused on the future of the agency and its international clients. His role is to bring the two agencies together into one coherent team — aligning creative, strategy, delivery, and operations so that clients experience a stronger, more seamless organisation built for the long term.

Soon will continue as CEO, ensuring continuity for the agency’s local clients and leading the integration of the MRM and MullenLowe Singapore Tech teams. He will steward core capability areas, including CRM, digital experience, enterprise solutions and long-standing local accounts, and will guide the unified AI and Adobe partnership work, as well as the transition from Interact to Omni. His focus is on giving teams and clients stability while the new organisation takes shape.

Brandon Cheung, CEO of McCann Singapore and South East Asia will continue partnering with Olivera and Soon through the transition period, supporting teams and clients through the first part of 2026. Cheung has been deeply involved in shaping the business, and his guidance during this handover will help ensure stability and clarity as the team moves into the new structure.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Brandon for his full commitment and partnership leading the agency and during this transition process,” added Donovan.

“Our priority right now is continuity. The two teams have worked together before, and this integration simply formalises a partnership that already existed in practice. Clients will continue to receive uninterrupted support from the senior leaders they already know well. The integration will strengthen client service with stronger tools, deeper expertise, and greater senior attention.”