Saatchi & Saatchi acquires 100% of one of Asia’s leading digital agencies Arachnid Malaysia

Saatchi & Saatchi has acquired Arachnid, one of Asia’s leading and most highly awarded digital agencies, and one of the region’s most coveted acquisition targets for many years.

The acquisition will see Arachnid rebranded Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid, as the agency becomes aligned into the Saatchi & Saatchi network in Asia Pacific. The management team of Arachnid will continue to lead the business as Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid.

“The marriage of Saatchi & Saatchi and Arachnid signifies a major scaling up of digital capabilities in the Saatchi & Saatchi network across the region. The past 18 months have seen us make significant investments in digital capabilities, particularly in our regional management hub in Singapore, and now through the union with Arachnid’s exceptional expertise and capabilities, we are even better placed to deliver the unreasonable power of creativity for our Clients across the full multitude of consumer channels,” said Chris Foster (pictured below), Chairman & CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Asia Pacific.

Arachnid was one of the region’s first digital agencies, founded in 1996 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since then it has grown rapidly to service blue-chip clients such as Toyota, Lexus, Petronas, Dutch Lady, MINI and Reckitt Benckiser and has been ranked three times on the Deloitte Asia Pacific Fast 500 ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Asia Pacific. In the last four years alone, it has also won 11 titles in the client marketer-judged Advertising + Marketing Agency Of The Year Awards in five agency categories including Digital Agency of the Year, Direct Marketing Agency of the Year and Creative Agency of the Year.

Chin Weng Keong, Founder and Managing Director of Arachnid (pictured top left) commented on the acquisition, “We’ve explored becoming part of a global network for a while and Saatchi & Saatchi has proven to be the right fit. Firstly, we share a common vision, values and strategy as we evolve beyond pure-play digital and as Saatchi has evolved in the region. Secondly, partnering with the Singapore regional hub allows us to grow beyond Malaysia, leveraging the regional and global experience we’ve developed over recent years. We’ve also taken the time to work at a practical level to integrate our capabilities into a new generation agency that will see an exciting shared future.”

“Weng Keong and I have known each other for many years, and I have always professionally admired Arachnid and their fantastic body of work. The acquisition of Arachnid, and the close working relationship based on mutual trust and respect that we have already built will further enhance our ability to deliver powerful integrated campaigns for our Clients together in this strategically important region,” said Paul Roebuck, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore & Malaysia.

The acquisition will initially see Arachnid embed a number of their key personnel in the Singapore office of Saatchi & Saatchi, with the bulk of the sixty plus Arachnid personnel across creative, technology, strategy, social and account management functions remaining in the organisation’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters. Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid will continue to operate separately from Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia.