Former Ace Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Matt Seddon opens Silver Machine Digital Communications

Matt Seddon, former CEO at Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, has returned to The Philippines to open his own agency, Silver Machine Digital Communications.

Seddon (pictured) is widely credited with “turning around” the fortunes at Ace Saatchi (and prior to that JWT Manila) during his previous stint in Manila between 2005 and 2012. He now feels passionately that the time is ripe for a new kind of agency, one which is in tune with the explosion in digital and social media.

Explaining this, Seddon points to the fact that the Philippines is often referred to as the social networking capital of the World, and yet the spend on digital media in the country is barely 2% of the almost P300 billion ad market; compared to almost 30% in the USA. “There’s a massive disconnect between what the traditional agency can offer and how the modern consumer interacts with the media. Agencies today either don’t have the skills or the inclination to change what in The Philippines has proven a profitable formula around traditional media, and advertisers are missing out on the chance to engage with their consumers as a result.”

Silver Machine aims to sit squarely between the traditional agency and the digital start up. Seddon has brought in a number of specialists from both sides of the agency divide in order to provide genuinely integrated communication solutions. Importantly, they will sit together and work together on the same client brief from the outset. He explains,  “I think clients today are having to decide whether they want the strategic rigor of a mainstream agency or the technical expertise of a digital start up. It’s an either/or situation which is clearly not ideal! We have focused on building a multi-­‐ disciplined team at Silver Machine in order to deliver genuine integrated solutions which work across media”.

Rather than attempt to build executional competence across all disciplines, Silver Machine will focus on the big creative idea and corresponding Engagement Plan. They will then bring in specialist partners to implement the idea under their supervision, allowing clients to tap world class executional expertise – either locally or from overseas – to ensure that the idea is given both breadth and impact.

“In today’s fragmented media environment, its totally unrealistic to expect one agency to be top dog across all disciplines. Silver Machine will identify and bring in the best partner for a specific client project, whether it’s a digital platform or mobile app developer, shopper marketing outfit, PR/Events team or simply a funky new piece of tech. Our role is to come up with the game changing idea and then introduce our clients to the operational experts with specialist skills to ensure that those ideas are brought to life and become truly engaging”.

Silver Machine offices are in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.