• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 15, 2015

Confoundingly, agencies are always trying to reinvent themselves into something completely different rather than focusing on what they are supposed to be doing; creating advertising that persuades people to buy. Now that might be a harsh assessment of things inside agencies that are just doing what they can to stay afloat in these days -- but how about just doing better advertising?

In a supposed effort to broaden perspective inside the agency, Havas Worldwide Kuala Lumpur Managing Director Andrew Lee is seeking talent from outside the advertising world.

Of the move, Lee says: “With more specialists from various professions, it will allow the generation of fresh "out of the box" ideas and allow an agency to see things in a different perspective and to understand better consumers’ fast-changing needs. We have a doctor in our Singapore office and a lawyer at the Kuala Lumpur office. My former head was an archaeologist and the group had earlier hired a furniture designer as one of its creative persons.”

In addition, Lee says the move is an effort to bring perspectives that are vastly different from what might be found at competing agencies who, for the most part, just recruit people with marketing and advertising experience.