IPG’s MediaBrands Ventures, One of Facebook’s Investors, Is Now in China

I am sure that Interpublic Group (IPG), the global provider of advertising and marketing services group has been doing business with Facebook. But I did not know it’s also one of Facebook’s investors. And IPG’s investment company has set up its office for a while in Shanghai too, and it is MediaBrands Ventures led by the CEO, Jimmy Poon who is full of energy and traveling around to meet interesting companies.

I had a brief talk with Jimmy who shared with me their investment strategy in China. He said, “Similarly in China, we are looking to invest in and partner up with new media companies that can add values for our clients.” Unlike other VCs which usually don’t have the Clients, supported by IPG, MediaBrands Venture wants to bring its invested companies not only the money, but also the advertising and marketing solution as well as the global clients. Jimmy also said,

As a STRATEGIC investor and partner, we welcome the idea of partnering up with other VCs. We bring to the table our marketing know-how which assists the creation of new capabilities that will ultimately benefit our clients.

Talking about the plan for China in 2011, Jimmy said, our focus is on building up a cutting edge roster new media capabilities on the ground here in China, for our clients to utilize.