iris launches new venture in Indonesia

iris has launched its new office in Indonesia through an agreement with the Nava+ group headed by President Director, David Wibowo. The new venture will couple the unique multi-disciplined creativity of iris, with the scale and execution capability of the Nava+ group, one of Indonesia’s leading homegrown groups of communications and marketing brands with a countrywide network.

The venture will see iris enter its fifth country in Asia with a 220-strong presence in Jakarta and a field force of over 700. The office will offer end-to-end integrated marketing solutions in line with iris’ core proposition which spans advertising, digital, retail, experiential, sponsorship, PR, management consultancy and CRM.

With iris’ headcount in Asia now over 400, the deal comes as a result of both increased demand from some of iris’ biggest clients – including Sony Ericsson and Diageo, just two of the agency’s key clients in the region – and a new phase of growth planned by the Nava+ group. The opening will be a significant move for iris in Asia Pacific following several recent growth announcements, including the appointment of Luke Nathans as regional development director for Asia.

Nathans said: “It’s great to be leading this significant chapter of our Asian growth story. Indonesia is an incredibly important market for any network, its growth potential is extraordinary. But more importantly, some of our biggest clients have a presence there, and they want us to be part of their future. We’re looking forward to working with them and the existing management team, including David Wibowo, Brian Estes and Maneha Widarso, to shake up the market and have a bit of fun doing it.”

Ian Millner, joint global CEO of iris, said: “We are the alternative to the traditional global networks. Indonesia is one of the most interesting and rapidly developing markets in the world. We want to give clients an unfair advantage wherever they need us. We can’t wait to work with David, Brian and Maneha.”

David Wibowo, President Director of the newly minted Nava+ group (named after ‘nava’ which means ‘new fresh and modern’ in the language of Sanskrit), said: “After 20 years, we’ve built a uniquely strong foundation in Indonesia with offices throughout the country, and now we’re restructuring our services to be the most brand experience-focused, entrepreneurial group in Indonesia. We’re thrilled to work with iris-iris is extremely progressive as an agency and a completely different type of animal in the market. They are doing great things for some of the top brands in Asia. The reason why they are doing so well is because they are continually moving with the times, and doing things that no other agencies are even thinking about yet. That’s what makes them so special. They are an ideal kind of agency for us as they embody that kind of fast-thinking creativity that puts an agency at the top.”