Late last year, the global advertising industry was reshaped by Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic. The deal created the world’s largest marketing and communications group and set in motion a series of structural changes across key markets.
In Singapore, the outcome took a distinct path. While MullenLowe was integrated into TBWA in most markets, Singapore represents a “strategic exception.” McCann Singapore and MullenLowe Singapore were brought together to form a single unified creative agency, operating under the McCann Singapore banner, led by Paul Soon and Gonzalo Olivera.
According to Omnicom, MullenLowe Singapore brings established creative leadership, while McCann contributes the scale of a global creative network and deep regional capability. The marriage also builds on a long history of cooperation and cultural alignment between the two teams across Southeast Asia.
To learn more, we caught up with Gonzalo Olivera, President of McCann Singapore, to discuss the challenges and rewards of bringing the two agencies together, how client expectations are being managed during the transition, the growing emphasis on brands living in culture, McCann’s 50 years in Singapore, and what lies ahead for the agency in its next chapter.
The integration of MullenLowe with McCann brings together two agencies with distinct histories and cultures. What are the challenges and rewards of aligning those differences without losing what made each unique?
McCann is historically one of the largest global networks built on true scale and the strategic rigour of #TruthWellTold — a promise to brands and audiences that we uncover enduring human insights and transform cultural signals into impactful storytelling.
MullenLowe, as one of the smallest global networks, developed a challenger mindset: entrepreneurial, quick to market, and built to integrate media, data and creativity to win disproportionate impact.
The challenge is ensuring that the depth of experience and philosophy from both sides do not get diluted as we come together. However, the cultures, though distinct, are complementary. Both are rooted in curiosity and a commitment to delivering work that creates impact.
The challenge is ensuring that the depth of experience and philosophy from both sides do not get diluted as we come together.
The reward is bringing those strengths together. We get deeper strategy, bigger creative ambition, and more confidence to challenge comfortable answers — especially with access to better data and intelligence through platforms like Omni and Flywheel.
As the agency navigates this period of change, how do you manage client expectations during the integration, particularly around continuity and creative standards?
The first principle is continuity. Clients experience an integration through the people they work with and the quality of the thinking they receive. None of this has changed for us day to day. Our teams continue to deliver the highest creative standards, and senior leadership remains deeply involved.
The first principle is continuity. Clients experience an integration through the people they work with and the quality of the thinking they receive.
At the same time, clients now have access to a wider range of solutions and talents, such as in-house research capabilities and deep CRM expertise. They will also experience teams encouraged to challenge briefs, not just respond to them. Agencies exist to hold a point of view, even when it creates productive tension between what clients want and what they actually need. With better data and sharper thinking supported by Omni, our teams are empowered to do exactly that.
As McCann celebrates five decades in Singapore, what has helped the agency stay culturally attuned to the market for so long?
Singapore is a sophisticated market — globally connected but deeply local. We stay relevant by listening closely to the truths around us that may be surprising or revealing about the Singaporean consciousness. Nothing captures hearts and minds like an idea rooted in truth; that’s why we’re passionate about uncovering them.
Nothing captures hearts and minds like an idea rooted in truth; that’s why we’re passionate about uncovering them.
McCann’s strength has always been combining global perspectives with local intelligence, earning trust over time, and understanding how culture, policy, business and people intersect here.
The idea of #TruthWellTold has long been central to McCann’s philosophy. How does that principle guide the agency’s work in Singapore today?
#TruthWellTold is a motto that needs to inspire behaviour, not just a slide template to present work. It’s a philosophy that guides our work process and internal decisions. Often enough we don’t say what we truly think, but when you create a culture that is brave enough to say and take a hard truth, the work naturally gets to higher standards.
At the same time in culture, we are seeing an exponential evolution of AI models with strong cognitive intelligence. GPT 5.3 is a model that helped create itself. The world will not be short on responses: responses to client briefs, responses to tasks requested. But these are not designed to give you the true: the truest best idea, the truest best solution, or even the fact that your brief is wrong and your definition of the problem is not accurate. This industry will survive when it stands for the truth. So #TruthWellTold is more important than ever.
There is a growing emphasis on brands living in culture rather than simply commenting on it. What does that look like in practice, and where do brands sometimes get it wrong?
Brands that live in culture don’t chase every new trend or react to moments. They understand the forces behind those trends — how people live, think and make meaning, which earns them the right to participate authentically. Living in culture is not just doing cooler social work, but is a brand building, a collective memory in pop culture of what the brand is and why it exists.
When brands plug into an ecosystem people already care about, their efforts will yield lower acquisition costs, higher retention and longer life because people want to spend time with them, not skip past them.
Living in culture is not just doing cooler social work, but is a brand building, a collective memory in pop culture of what the brand is and why it exists.
The brands that do this best don’t simply tap into culture — they become cultural assets themselves. For example, Harley-Davidson transcended its category by creating a mythology that stands for freedom, rebellion and the open road. The brand became a symbol people choose to identify with, fuelling not just motorcycle sales but entire ecosystems of apparel, events, accessories and lifestyle content. I can challenge you to think of a toaster, a kitchen table or a window designed by Harley Davidson — and we both would be picturing very similar images. That’s because the brand has built very strong, distinctive brand assets in the collective culture.
Effectiveness sits alongside creativity as a core benchmark. How do you balance measurable results with bold, culturally resonant ideas?
We don’t see it as a trade-off. The most effective work is often the most creative. WARC’s Health of Creativity 2025 report found that highly creative ideas are twice (44%) as effective as the average awarded creative idea (21%). Data helps us identify opportunity and sharpen ideas, but creativity is what creates disproportionate impact.
Singapore is both a regional hub and a distinct local market. What advice do you have for brands entering the market that want to resonate locally?
Singapore is a global hub, not only regional — on par with the likes of London and New York. Singapore has proven it can produce work that travels globally. Its diversity, talent density and business sensibilities make it a strong launchpad for ideas with scale. Singapore should never lose that.
Singapore has proven it can produce work that travels globally.
For clients that want to resonate in Singapore, I would just say it’s one market with the most demanding consumers in the world. They see more, compare more and travel more. 60% of Singaporeans travel overseas at least once a year. How many countries can say that? Audiences here are informed, discerning and quick to spot work that feels generic or parachuted in. Brands that succeed take the time to understand local context and cultural nuance, rather than treating Singapore as a shortcut or test market.
As McCann Singapore looks ahead to its next chapter, what excites you most about what’s coming next for the agency, and for the kind of work it wants to put into the world?
For starters, I feel we are now big enough to be a part of making this industry wanted by the best future talent. We need one unified culture where existing talent chooses to stay, the best new talent from around the world wants to join, and clients choose to partner deeper.
What excites me is the opportunity to build a unified, globally relevant creative company from Singapore. Success means stronger organic growth driven by solving real business problems, not simply responding to briefs.
The measure of success would be soon enough hearing more clients saying, “we weren’t growing as we should, until we hired you”. That’s the biggest aspiration an agency can have.
Quick Hits
A useful app or tool you’ve started using recently:
More than any more apps — I tend to try one new habit per month. Most don’t stay. But doing breathing exercises before going to sleep did, and I recommend it.
Book, podcast, or resource you recommend:
Letters from a Stoic, by Seneca. One of the oldest books in the world, and impressively relevant. Recommended by a friend and totally worth reading.
Something you want to learn or get better at:
Doing origami with my daughter. It helps us spend time focusing on the same thing and relax — but it’s extremely hard.
