The young-blood agency has already signed up three corporate clients, which are expected to help it achieve its billings target of Bt300 million this year.

Bio Consumers, which sells body-care products, and SSUP Co Ltd, a direct sales company, were so confident in the new agency that they deserted TBWA to follow the group of creatives.

Aberdeen Asset Management from the United Kingdom is the third client.

Bio Consumers sells the Tros men's care line, B-Nice shower bath, Fine Line, Eversense roll-on, and Gene products.

Nude has already bagged a silver prize in the Graphic Category Single for Corporate Identity at the recent third Adman Awards. The recognition was for its name cards designed to show the nude identity of each of its 14 employees.

Since being founded in January with Bt5 million in registered capital, it has already created nine advertisements for corporate clients, which can be seen on various media, as well as other marketing activities.

Managing director Kanaporn Hutcheson said the staff believed in creating works that are "surprise, simple, and sexy" - surprising audiences with ads and marketing activities embodying simple ideas, yet sexy enough to arouse interest.

She said "sexy" in Nude's mind was not limited to sex only but also any interesting point of the products and services that can attract attention.

Companies in a number of industries during these hard times are very careful about their ad and marketing budget and want to maximise the value of their money.

They want agencies that can work as partners and are flexible enough for them to create and adjust their works before going to the public, she said.

Big agencies usually already have big corporate accounts, so certain clients might not feel all that important, but in the smaller agencies, they might be No 1. These observations led the group of creatives to strike out on their own, knowing they could fill a niche, Kanaporn said.

Working with small agencies does not mean downsizing the ad and marketing budget compared to working with big agencies, as it depends on the types of products and brands as well as the situations and objectives of the brands, she said.

Strong and big ideas are needed for smooth and innovative works, she added.

At this moment, staffing is just right for the three clients, so Nude does not plan to pitch for more business this year. But the welcome mat is out for any advertiser interested in working with Nude.

"We want other companies to see our works on various media channels to learn our style of working and effectiveness, rather than to keep going out saying how good we are," Kanaporn said.

The company does like ad awards but its priority is to create works that achieve clients' objectives. Good work will eventually bring awards to Nude, she added.

Kanaporn does not have a clear picture on how big Nude wants to be in the far future. It only has next year's target to pull in Bt500 million and win some new clients.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation