Former creative chief of JWT Indonesia starts up, gets funding, big clients in weeks

Photo credit: Andy Morffew.

East Ventures, one of Southeast Asia’s most active early stage venture capital firms, strikes again. Today, it announced a somewhat mysterious investment in an advertising agency called Flock. The amount wasn’t disclosed.

Flock, headed by Ivan Hady Wibowo, is just two weeks old. The company doesn’t even have a website. Yet, the agency has already attracted clients like Tokopedia and “a big tobacco company,” whose name Ivan can’t reveal. He says he’s also in talks for a future partnership with Warner Brothers.

Why does a classic ad agency with presumably well-paying clients need venture capital?

It’s because Flock is stealthily working on a digital product that will automate parts of the marketing process, specifically influencer marketing and content production. It’s set to launch next year.

East Ventures’ funds will be utilized to develop the platform.

Willson Cuaca, managing partner of East Ventures, says he sees Flock as a company that addresses a large market and fits into the “startup enabler” category.

“As the number of startups in Indonesia grows rapidly, this category will become more important. The current digital marketing strategies everyone relies on to get users may one day not be a viable option for startups. […] As we go forward, they will need creative and more nuanced approaches to grab users, retain them, and communicate value,” he explains his thinking behind the investment.

Attracting big clients within just weeks of the birth of his agency, Ivan says, was possible because he “has a reputation” in the advertising world.

Ivan quit his position as chief creative officer at multinational ad agency JWT last month. He won the agency numerous awards.