After 10 solid years in J. Walter Thompson (JWT) Bangkok and a total of 16 years in Asia, Bob Hekkelman, CEO of the said agency and concurrently CEO Southeast Asia of JWT, has announced his departure from the firm and his return to Europe.
A budding soccer player in his youth in the Netherlands, Hekkelman dreamt of going professional. When an injury prevented him from realizing that dream, he decided to go into advertising.
His advertising journey was not an ordinary one either. He and his young family decided to move to the Philippines in 2001 to run the Ogilvy Group from Manila. “It became the start of an amazing journey in which I had the opportunity to work and live in the Philippines, Indonesia & Thailand and built personal and commercial friendships across the APAC region,” he said.
In 2007, Hekkelman moved to J. Walter Thompson Bangkok to take on the CEO position. Six years later in 2013, he was appointed CEO for the Southeast Asia offices. During his decade-long stay in JWT, he “led the agency to a sustained period of growth after the agency moved large parts of its regional business to other markets. The agency welcomed new clients and transformed into an integrated communications company with a strong digital offering and specialized services in design and public relations.”
As he was leaving Asia to return to Europe, adobo magazine caught up with Hekkelman to talk about his long experience in the region and his move back home.
adobo magazine: After 16 years in Asia, some years in Ogilvy and in JWT, what made you decide to move out of Asia to go to Europe?
Hekkelman: It’s purely a personal decision to reconnect with family.
The Hekkelman family
adobo magazine: Which country will you be moving to and have you decided if you will stay in the WPP network? If so, where? Who will be replacing you in your role?
Hekkelman: We will move back to the Netherlands. WPP is an option which I am exploring. Jacco ter Schegget, the new SEA CEO for JWT and Mirum will look after Bangkok until the new local CEO is onboard.
adobo magazine: Sixteen years is a long time as an expat, and as an agency head in the Asian region, how would your describe your time here in Asia and how has it molded you as an agency professional?
Hekkelman: Asia is the best thing that has happened to me from a personal, business and cultural diversity point of view. A humble experience as well. Having lived in Philippines/ Indonesia/ Thailand and traveled extensively in the region, we are so blessed to have a amazing job, to think about creativity every day, to be able to speak up without fear and get fairly well paid for it. Our industry is very good in complaining, but I would say look around to the millions of less privileged around you and count your blessings.
The JWT Bangkok tribe
I learned a lot in my 16 years in Asia. I got better in understanding what it is to run an agency and how to deal with business issues and people issues. I think I have become a nicer, more people-centric, more empathetic person. I think empathy is such an underrated value in our business, particularly at a time where we increasingly move into transactional stuff — more data, more measurement, more automation, more procurement. Let’s not forget we are a business that thrives on people.
Hekkelman with JWT Philippines Managing Director Golda Roldan
adobo magazine: What do you look forward to in Europe?
Hekkelman: A lot — obviously reconnecting with friends and family, the seasons, seeing parts of Europe that we have never been.
On the professional front, I think Europe is getting back on its feet if we forget England, which is very messy right now. Northern European economies are doing better, employment is on the rise. The Euro is strong, people and businesses are optimistic.
I’d like to bring the Asian friendliness, warmth, entrepreneurship and fun to my next job. Western people can be very short sighted and judgmental — a sense of superiority in a way which I think is completely misplaced. The West can learn so much from the East and vice versa. I do believe that I understand both worlds and it will benefit me in my new ventures.
adobo magazine: Can you describe how the advertising industry has evolved this past decade and what is your fearless forecast?
Hekkelman: When I arrived in Manila as MD at O&M in 2001, there was no Facebook, YouTube, or any other social platform. I was a cool guy with my Nokia 6300. Data was something that belonged to companies like Nielsen. TV was king. We had lot of fun and everybody was perfectly happy.
Obviously, technology has developed and is transforming our business at bullet speed. The people that we work with and for have changed. A new generation of people join our offices and clients’ offices with different expectations and attitudes towards work.
Consumers have transformed to always on, highly mobile, time constraint individuals who don’t care about advertising. We are living in the age of relevance, the age of “what’s in it for me”. Many brands and agencies for that matter struggle to come up with the right responses.
Then there is the digital transformation where we meet, eat, compare, shop online, where behavior is trackable and measurable and systems and processes become automated.
Then there is business transformation where companies move away from traditional distribution and engagement model, requiring faster and cheaper solutions and content.
It has led to a massive disruption of the agency industry. Many agencies are trying to figure out what to do and how to keep their cost under control amidst declining profits. Happy days have turned into worrying times but I have no doubt that our Industry will prevail.
It has been around for more than 160 years and even in the darkest moments of history it picked itself up and reinvented itself. We are at a time of great opportunity in ASEAN in particular because of well performing economies, rising, largely mobile middle class, increase of disposable incomes, better access to education, technology on the rise. It will be good but different.
It’s very difficult to predict the future. If I had the answer I would be on it and would make it happen. It varies per industry, per organization, per culture.
I observe that the big network agencies adapt much slower to the desired changes than independents. I observe that people in big network agencies are more complacent with status quo and don’t necessarily spend enough time by themselves to get better. They rely on their companies to do that for them which is a mistake. I always say “you are responsible for your own success”.
New jobs will emerge. Current jobs will disappear. I expect more people with business and digital transformative skills, more UX/UI specialist, more analytics people.
We will see consolidation of agencies. We will see more collaboration between different companies. The landscape and delivery system will change but one core thing will never change and will become increasing priceless is IDEAS – but more transformation ideas that yield revenue or brand equity than creative executional ideas.
Hekkelman also mentioned the campaigns he is proudest of:
For JWT – Touchable Ink for Samsung
Secrets Leak by Oriental Princess
For Ogilvy – The Asia launch for Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty”
