We Communications expands in Asia through agency acquisitions
We Communications has acquired Chinese agency Red Bridge Communications and Singapore-based corporate and financial affairs consultancy WATATAWA.
From left to right: Simon Pangrazio, managing partner at WATATAWA; Jeonghwa Ryu, COO at WATATAWA; Alan VanderMolen, president international at WE Communications; Jo Chew, director at WATATAWA and Bill Rylance, chairman at WATATAWA
Melissa Waggener-Zorkin, CEO and president of WE Communications, said: “The additions of female-founded and owned Red Bridge and C-suite consultancy WATATAWA, anchored by two former Asia-Pacific CEOs of a top five global firm, broadens our offering and creates opportunities to expand client services for existing clients of all three agencies.”
Redbridge, which was founded in 2009, will be rebranded as WE Red Bridge, while WATATAWA, which was established in 2010, will continue to operate under its current brand and leadership.
Penny Burgess, managing partner at Red Bridge, added: “The merger into WE represents a huge opportunity for us to accelerate our expansion into new sectors and markets within the region. With the increased scale of the combined business, we can deepen our specialist capabilities, particularly in the areas of digital and analytics, and provide our team with greater development opportunities.”
With the deal, Burgess becomes China head for WE Red Bridge. She will report to executive vice president for Asia-Pacific, Matthew Lackie, who is based in Singapore.
Simon Pangrazio, managing partner at WATATAWA, said: “Becoming part of WE while retaining our brand and core operating philosophy allows us to provide wider integrated solutions to our clients and those of WE Communications.”
Pangrazio will continue to lead the business regionally from Singapore in consultation with Bill Rylance, WATATAWA chairman.
