Move and win roundup: MetLife, WPP, Y&R, Turner, Centric and more

PEOPLE MOVES

MetLife appointed Sanjeev Kapur as senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Asia, reporting to Esther Lee, MetLife executive vice president and global CMO, and Chris Townsend, president of Asia. Kapur will also join the Asia Leadership Team. He was previously regional head of marketing at Citi, responsible for marketing across 17 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to Citi, Sanjeev was in charge of brand and product strategy at Hindustan Unilever. 

WPP’s Possible appointed Anurag Gupta as chief growth officer. Based in Singapore, he will work with global and APAC teams. Gupta most recently led WPP’s largest ‘horizontality’ play in Asia Pacific, for P&G.

Teknoff Treffert Malaysia appointed Wanda Smith as managing director to manage its growth plan in the Asian markets. Smith has had 14 years of experience in managing corporate affairs, she will report to Marcel Dissel, strategic business director, Industrial Wood. 

Penumbra appointed Sheikh Danish Ejaz as account director, leading the brand evangelism practice. He was previously the APAC engagement manager for Centric, a Dubai-based digital strategy firm.

Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL) appointed Nauman Ansari as its new CEO. In his three decade career, Ansari has served various banks including Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of America, and ABN Amro. He joined Faysal Bank in 2008 and was appointed President & CEO in 2014.

Global strategy and marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners opened an office in Hong Kong, headed by Silvio Strübi, partner. The office joins locations in Beijing, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo.

Colgate-Palmolive promoted Arsalan Ahmed from brand manager of oral care to brand manager of fabric care. The promotion was announced after Ahmed completed his second year at CP.

Y&R Hong Kong’s new executive creative director Yee Wai Khuen is hired as part of the agency’s continued push towards full integration of creative, digital and data analytics. He will work alongside the agency’s HK general manager Beverly Ho.

BUSINESS WINS

AccorHotels appointed iProspect, Dentsu Aegis Network’s performance agency, as global media agency of record as of June 1. The three-year partnership will see iProspect manage brand and performance campaigns across paid social, display, programmatic and offline channels. Singapore has been chosen as one of the six regional hubs where iProspect will manage all AccorHotels’ digital and offline media buying.

FCB Kuala Lumpur has been selected to RHB Bank’s roster of agencies and launched a Raya-themed film. The agency claims seven new business wins in 2017, including Havaianas, Zespri Malaysia, Continental, Clorox and Levi’s (along with FCB Jakarta).

OTHER NEWS

Turner Asia Pacific announced a minority investment in Vietnamese digital media and creator network Pops Worldwide. Turner’s Boomerang brand launched in Vietnam in April 2016 on Pops Kids non-linear platforms. Pops boasts more than 2 billion monthly views and 32 million YouTube subscribers among its 1,210 channels under management.

WPP AUNZ announced the merger of two specialist communications agencies: Greyhealth Group (GHG) and ‎Sudler & Hennessey. The merged company will be known as Sudler Sydney, operating under the WPP Health & Wellness AUNZ division announced earlier this year and with Gary Pattison as CEO. Sudler Sydney will be led by Peter Bernard (formerly ‎Sudler & Hennessey MD). The merger does not affect the global GHG or Sudler & Hennessey brands.

zMessenger, a full-service digital marketing agency in Sri Lanka, has entered into a partnership with Japanese advertising agency network Chuo Senko to expand digitial marketing services in the Asean region. The agreement will allow Chuo Senko to include zMessenger’s martech platforms, including AI-driven programmatic buying, VR and internet-of-things solutions to clients in Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Japan.