The concept of extended families is ingrained in every Asian culture. But what’s a creative agency to do in
It asks for emancipation.
Such was the case with DDBI Kuala Lumpur, which for seven years worked in the shadow of Naga DDB. The former not only stepped away, it dropped the family initials altogether.
Last April, it became Milk+
Neal Estavillo, its managing director of less than a year, explained, “Consumers are becoming more demanding and discerning. The change was happening, but we might not have been responding well enough, and the clients were getting impatient.
“There have been a major slew of new business opportunities for the past year or so, and more often than not, DDBI was not in the shortlist. It didn’t help that our sister company Naga DDB is bigger, with brighter people, which shows in their creative and effectiveness achievements. So whenever we said DDBI, people would always say Naga DDB.”
Inevitably, the name change begs the question, “and what of DDB?” Well, Milk+Co is still part of the DDB global network, and the Malaysian owners (which include head of
The name is new and so far, is not yet to be adapted elsewhere in DDB, a network which already includes names like Rapp Collins, Tribal DDB, Whack Films, Beyond Events and Vizeum. In fact, “Milk+Co” is a local creation.
“One of a long list of forgotten name studies,” said Estavillo “It’s so old, no one knows who wrote it anymore.”
Asked if DDB minded having its name taken off the door, he shook his head. “There were already two DDBs in this country, and we needed to be a different DDB…Do we disregard our DDB heritage? Absolutely not. We’re proud to be part of it because it is famous for the right reasons.”
“DDB, as a global organization, builds its work on two things: creativity and humanity. We want to deserve the fame by creating a good organization. So it’s not just a name change. It’s also an infusion of new talent.”
Of course, the cynics wondered how much a name change can accomplish. But Estavillo said re-branding itself is just the beginning . He promises that Milk+Co will be about “creative business solutions to grow brands and the people behind them” and a “fuel for collective sustenance.”
With him and other new people on board (including Planning Director Tarina Rallan, ECD Yap Pow Hoong and about 10 creative hires) it would work with advertisers and business partners to make the brands self-sustaining.
As DDBI, the agency won several Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards but creativity was not its strongest suit.
“The fact that we changed our name, are investing in senior talent across the board and are already showing that we can do more now than we can in the past,” he countered. “The vision, the promise, the culture and the values are all words for me at present. But we have to make it happen—I have to make it work—I have 60 people and 15 brands that need to become famous.”
Then Estavillo checked himself. “Our promise is creative business solutions. Fame with creative awards is great, but that will come as a natural consequence. First things first.”
