Move and win roundup: Week of June 7, 2021

Grab has added four media and technology industry veterans to its team in recent months to strengthen its advertising offerings. David Baser has joined as head of advertising and personalisation technology, charged with helping users connect with businesses across Southeast Asia. He joined from a more than 10-year stint at Facebook where he was most recently director of product management. He led the launch of several products including Instagram’s self-service ads product and adding business transactions to Facebook Pages. Ashu Mathura has joined as head of product, ads, responsible for better supporting large and small advertisers. He joined from Criteo where he was senior director of programmatic DSP. Elsewhere, GrabAds has hired search marketplace expert Margaret Chang as the regional head of small and mid-sized business (SMB) from Yahoo! Ads, while Dave Yang takes up regional head of direct sales organisation following stints at tech companies Facebook and Snap, where he was heavily involved in the building and scaling of teams.

Independent Australian media agency Match & Wood has appointed former Initiative and IPG executive Stuart MacDougall to a new role of national performance director. MacDougall will lead the paid search and social performance for clients. MacDougall was formerly paid media director at IPG Mediabrands, led paid search for Reprise Perth, and also worked as a search specialist at MediaCom in Sydney.

iFly Singapore has appointed Ruder Finn Asia as its partner for all public relations matters. The one-year appointment sees Ruder Finn Asia responsible for strategic counsel and media relations to strengthen its positioning in the sports and lifestyle spaces. Beyond PR, Ruder Finn Asia’s integrated marketing communications team will also be the digital partner for all publicity campaigns.

Bicycle NSW has appointed CSM Sport & Entertainment to deliver the Spring Cycle event, due to take place on September 12 in Sydney. The appointment will see global integrated marketing agency oversee the event delivery for NSW's largest family friendly recreational bike ride. This includes; operational delivery, ticketing, event presentation, marketing and communications. CSM will also be working with Bicycle NSW to identify, develop and secure strategic commercial partnerships for Spring Cycle.

Adtech firm OpenX has hired Tom Levesque as VP of product. He will overseeing product management across all business lines including the company's core exchange, OpenX's Prebid solution, Apollo, as well as the company's data and identity platform, OpenAudience. Additionally, he will accelerate product development in OpenX's growing CTV business. Levesque joins from Xandr where he was senior director of product management, leading product across a variety of functions including header bidding, connected TV, and external identifiers. He has also previously served as president and board member at Prebid.org.

TotallyAwesome has appointed Ridwan S Hidayat as country manager in Indonesia. The company has been active there since 2015 and has an audience of 35.2 million monthly active users across kids, teens and family segments. Across Asia Pacific, TotallyAwesome’s audience is about 300 million monthly active users. Hidayat was previously client services director with Essence and prior to that was the agency’s planning director. He also has previous experience as a marketer with Kraft Heinz ABC in Indonesia. Will Anstee, CEO of TotallyAwesome Asia Pacific, said Hidayat will lead the company's efforts to apply human assessment and guidance to how brands reach out to digital audiences in Indonesia, where youth make up over 30% of the population. 

Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K), has appointed Cecilia Zhou as senior vice president, to lead H+K China’s newly-integrated Science, Technology & Internet-based Innovation Communications practice. Based in Shanghai, and reporting to Jun Xu, CEO, H+K China, Zhou will lead her consolidated practice team to serve multinational and Chinese clients across key technology verticals. She was most recently special assistant & arand advisor to the CEO of Suning, a Fortune 500 Company.

Edelman appointed Wendy Chan as chief creative officer for China. She will report to Mark Wang, CEO of Edelman China, and Tim Green, chief creative officer for Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Edelman, she worked as a creative director at Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saatchi, Grey Group and McCann Health Shanghai.

Wolfpack Consulting has been rebranded as The O4 Company and the company has promoted its COO Guna Kaliannan as CEO. Also hired are are Luke Koh, an IMG, GroupM and Pico alum who brings years of content and IP commercialisation and sponsorship development experience, and Anna Khegay, who ran strategy for a marketing agency in Shanghai. Along with this appointment, the company will make investments to accelerate its growth across the region, the firm announced. The O4 Company has made two investments in a 360 solution: O4 Media, a content IP developer and IMMedia Holdings, a content marketing outfit.  

Enero Group has appointed Heather Kernahan as global chief executive officer of Hotwire, the group’s global technology communications consultancy. The appointment will see Kernahan report to Brent Scrimshaw, Enero Group CEO, effective 1 July 2021.Barbara Bates, who has led Hotwire for the past five years, will move into a newly created senior advisory role at Enero. Bates will help facilitate Enero Group’s M&A activities in North America and will continue to report to Brent Scrimshaw. Kernahan joined Hotwire from Eastwick Communications, as president of Hotwire North America and Australia, after its acquisition in 2016 by Enero Group. 

Golin Hong Kong has signed a new pro-bono partnership with the Hong Kong based NGO, Branches of Hope. The partnership will see Golin supporting Branches of Hope as it raises awareness of asylum seekers, refugees and victims of human trafficking in Hong Kong. The scope of the project will include strengthening awareness and engagement of two of the NGO’s programs, Stop Trafficking of People (STOP) and Refugee Opportunity and Development (ROAD). This will be conducted through a program of media relations, social media and creative content.

GroupM has appointed Jiao Yang as chief growth officer, GroupM China effective June 16th, 2021, responsible for growth strategy with particular attention to local business. Yang will become a member of the GroupM China Executive Committee, reporting directly to CEO Patrick Xu. Yang began his advertising industry with Mindshare and successively worked for Maxus and MediaCom, once serving as the managing firector of MediaCom Beijing. Afterward Yang joined Tencent in 2017 as deputy general manager of Tencent’s advertising ecological cooperation department.

Australian online shopping mega sale events company Click Frenzy has awarded its media account to Mindshare and creative duties to Wunderman Thompson following competitive pitches. Mindshare will be taking on the online and offline duties for the digital eCommerce business, while Wunderman Thompson's remit includes brand strategy and architecture, and ongoing communications work. Click Frenzy's marketing manager attributed Mindshare's win to their vision, best-in-class and ability to lean on global network for insights that can be applied to the Australian market while Wunderman Thompson was credited for its existing work with the brand. 

Ogilvy Australia has appointed Mark Albert as chief data and analytics officer, leading the data practice across the Ogilvy ANZ network, servicing advertising, experience, PR and health sectors.
After starting his career as a data planner at OgilvyOne in London, Albert became founding partner and COO of Australian data and analytics agency, Torque Data, acquired in 2015 by Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer loyalty program. At Ogilvy, Albert will tap his data-driven marketing, CRM and loyalty programs experience to leverage data and analytics solutions for brands. 

Sandpiper Communications has appointed Philip Channon as its global chief financial officer. Channon has 30 years’ experience working with international communications networks overseeing finance and operations across Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe, including 17 years as regional chief financial officer, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa with Edelman, and chief operating officer for WE Communications, overseeing operations for 12 offices across eight markets outside the United States. He assumes the role at Sandpiper after working with the company as a senior consultant for the past year. 

Zoe Wilkinson has been appointed to the newly created position of brand director at TBWA Sydney. She previously worked as a reporter for Mumbrella covering PR and creative agencies. 

beIN Asia Pacific has decided to extend its partnership with M&C Saatchi Performance until April 2022. The extension follows a one year partnership during which the agency has been taking care of the digital media planning, buying, strategy and analytics for beIN’s streaming service, beIN Sports Connect. In addition to currently managed markets Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, the new contract extends the scope to Hong Kong as well.  

PR firm Sling & Stone reported six new clients to its New Zealand portfolio in education, home interiors, travel tech, legaltech and sports. They are:

• Kami — A global edtech player assisting virtual classrooms
• Nanoleaf — a smart home lighting system working with gaming, home and interior communities.
• Preno — SME software to manage bookings, databases, invoices and day-to-day operations.
• LawVu — software platform for in-house legal teams
• Mooven —  construction tech platform 
• earShots — Headphones designed for riders, runners, and adventurers. 

Rose Chan has been promoted to senior consultant, Digital at Archetype Hong Kong. Chan will be leading digital marketing and content strategies on both internal comms and external campaigns for  multi-market clients in the health, property and technology sectors and will provide strategic counsel and support business development. Chan has been the lead copywriter for Four Seasons Hotel’s digital and social efforts and previously worked at The Hoffman Agency.

Tata Harper appointed Gusto Luxe as its integrated agency partner in China. Gusto Luxe will develop the brand's market entry strategy for China and support it with positioning, digital and marketing. The agency will be working with Tata Harper to execute an engaging social media strategy, supported by influencer activations and offline events. The brand is known for its non-toxic products and is one of many for which China has become a more attractive opportunity thanks to the country's decision to stop requiring animal testing. 

Dentsu International appointed Rashmi Vikram, formerly group diversity and inclusivity practice lead at Microsoft, as chief equity officer in APAC. (Full story)

Deepa Balji, S4 Capital's Asia-Pacific director of marketing and communications, will be leaving the company at the end of June. She will join venture-capital firm B Capital as APAC head of marketing in mid-July.

VaynerMedia APAC is promoting Tim Lindley from head of insights and strategy to managing director for the APAC region as head of VaynerMadia APAC Avery Akkineni, who launched the agency in the region just over two years ago, returns to the US for a yet-to-be-announced role within VaynerX. (Full story)

Singapore-based PR and communications firm SPAG touted recent wins in the startup space: ZaZaZu (a sexual wellness startup), Pet telehealth company Zumvet, and medical device company ABM Respiratory Care. SPAG also led communication campaigns for Ferne Health last year.

Russia-based iMars Communications will provide communication support in China for DiHouse, one of the largest Russian distributors of digital technology. The agency will represent the company's external communications in the digital segment of the PRC, promote key messages in media materials and provide content on China's national social networks. DiHouse is engaged in distribution, retail and corporate supply of smartphones, mobile and desktop computers, household appliances, equipment for gamers, digital gadgets and accessories, with more than 100 manufacturer brands in its portfolio.

PR and marketing agency Bud Communications reported seven global and regional additions to its roster of challenger technology clients. The clients include WPP-owned GroupM's outcome media specialist, Xaxis and gaming and esports company AdColony, both following a competitive pitch and covering Southeast Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand. Also joining Bud's portfolio are sneakers and streetwear platform Ox Street, the Dutch Blockchain Coalition's joint venture with Singapore; media intelligence company, CARMA Asia; RFID technology company specialising in NFC wearables ISBC; and gaming and esports streaming company Yugen.