Continuing its international expansion, UK experiential agency Iris Experience recently announced the opening of an office in Singapore, while a senior member of the agency criticised the live marketing sector for lacking quality.

Richard Bleasdale, Iris chief executive for Asia Pacific, risked the ire of other experiential agencies as he commented on the launch, casting doubts over the standard of work carried out in the name of experiential marketing.

“Iris Experience brings a world-class offering to the region and is a huge opportunity for us to challenge the mediocrity that exists in this discipline,” he said. “Building on the success of our award-winning experiential work for Sony Ericsson, this exciting step change demonstrates our dedication to offering clients true rigour in every discipline.”

The move comes just 10 months after Iris successfully launched its first international office in New York, which has already won business from Adidas, Cartoon Network, MySpace, Sony Ericsson, MTV and Turner Broadcasting.

This Singapore office is the latest stage of an ambitious growth strategy that Iris claims will see it strengthen its integrated offering in the Asia Pacific region.    

The dedicated offering will benefit regional offices in Delhi and Sydney, as well as the Singapore office, which itself has been responsible for a number of high-profile and award-winning experiential campaigns to date, including the Traffic Jam music event for Sony Ericsson, which saw thousands of people turn out on the streets of the South East Asian state.  

“The landscape is changing in the Asia Pacific market and it’s an opportunity for us to really shake things up and show how effective experiential can be in building longer term emotional engagement with consumers,” said Iris Experience global business development director Cameron Day. “Working with Iris Singapore and the other offices in the region, we will continue to build our worldwide offering, bringing our unique vision to demonstrate the vital role experiential can play in driving client value to the market.”

Founded in 2003, Iris Experience is one of Europe’s leading experiential agencies and services a wide range of clients, including Sony Ericsson, Kellogg’s, Disney, Sony and PlayStation.