Guardian Indonesia appoints M+C Saatchi Performance as Agency of Record

On the back of sustained growth across Southeast Asia, M+C Saatchi Performance has been appointed Agency of Record (AOR) by Guardian Indonesia, one of the region’s largest health and beauty retailers. The agency has also appointed Arya Nugraha as Country Director for Indonesia, based in Jakarta and reporting to Roshat Adnani, Managing Director APAC.

The appointment marks a step change in our investment in Indonesia, with the Jakarta team now surpassing 100 people and continuing to scale to support a growing client portfolio. Over the last year alone, the Indonesia team has expanded by approximately 27%, making it one of the fastest-growing offices for the agency globally.

This momentum reflects a broader trajectory for us in the region. Over the past years, the agency has delivered revenue growth in the double-digit range, alongside continued expansion across Southeast Asia. This growth has been underpinned not only by new client wins but also by long-term partnerships, with our top ten Southeast Asia clients averaging over six years of tenure — an outlier in a category typically defined by high churn.

The Guardian AOR appointment follows a competitive review, during which we were selected for our ability to deliver a full-funnel approach that integrates brand and demand, along with proprietary measurement capabilities. Increasingly, brands are moving away from siloed media briefs towards integrated mandates, and we have seen significant growth in this area over the past 18 months.

Alongside full-funnel work, we have continued to expand our specialist offerings across retail media, app store optimization, measurement, creative media, and emerging areas such as AEO and GEO. This breadth of capability, combined with deep consumer insight, has enabled clients to consolidate more of their marketing investment with us as a single partner.

For Guardian Indonesia, the mandate extends beyond traditional performance metrics. Success will be measured not just through reach, ROAS, or sessions, but through tangible business outcomes — earned coverage, membership growth, sales, and the impact of media investment on offline store traffic. In a fragmented, mobile-first market like Indonesia, the ability to draw a credible line between media spend and business outcomes is a defining requirement of this partnership.

Indonesia remains our fastest-growing market in APAC, alongside India, driven by both headcount expansion and client portfolio growth. Sustaining this growth has come from a diversified approach: spanning multiple verticals, delivering across full-funnel media and specialist disciplines, and localizing strategies to the nuances of the Indonesian market rather than applying a regional template.

The strength of the Jakarta team has also positioned it as a talent hub within the network, increasingly supporting brands scaling beyond Indonesia. This combination of local expertise, diversified services, and top talent has enabled the business to remain resilient, even against broader macroeconomic pressures or fluctuations in client budgets.

We conducted a thorough review to find an agency partner that truly understands the complexity of the Southeast Asian and Indonesia market and M+C Saatchi Performance stood out for their data-driven, full-funnel approach and proven ability to connect media investment to real retail outcomes,

Malvin Tarigan, Head of Marketing, Guardian Indonesia.

“As Guardian continues to expand across the region, growing our presence and driving new business initiatives that bring greater accessibility to health and beauty, particularly in Indonesia, we were seeking a partner with both the strategic depth and local expertise to help us reach our customers in a meaningful way. We believe this partnership will support our continued growth and help us deliver greater value to the consumer we serve.”

Roshat Adnani, Managing Director APAC, M+C Saatchi Performance, added:

“Indonesia is our fastest-growing market in APAC and has been for the past few years. The Guardian appointment reflects what our team in Jakarta has built: the capability to answer briefs that require an integrated media approach, in a market that makes that combination technically demanding. Arya’s appointment gives us the senior leadership and deep local nuance to continue building on that. He has spent his career at the heart of this industry, across markets and brands that matter, and he joins at the exact right moment for our clients and business in Indonesia.”

Arya Nugraha, Country Director, Indonesia at M+C saatchi Performance, commented:

M+C Saatchi Performance has built a serious operation in Indonesia. My mandate is clear: deepen client relationships, continue to grow the Jakarta team’s capabilities, and ensure the brands we work with can connect their investment to outcomes they can clearly measure. Indonesia is at an inflection point for brand growth. The timing is right.