Move and win roundup: Nielsen, MullenLowe, DDB, Ogilvy, Cheil, Minute Media, JWT

PEOPLE MOVES

Nielsen appointed Vishal Bali as managing director of Nielsen China to replace Kiki Fan, who moved to Tencent. He joined Nielsen Cyprus in 2004 and was most recently leader of consumer insights and digital retail in growth markets (spanning across Southeast Asia, North Asia & Latin America).

MullenLowe Vietnam appointed Adrian McNamara as executive creative director. He was previously with OgilvyOne Vietnam, creating integrated and digital-engagement campaigns for clients including Kimberly Clark, Nestlé and Unilever Vietnam.

Minute Media, parent company of 90min and 12up, appointed Diogo Andrade as head of sales for Southeast Asia and Jun Kurata as vice president in Japan. Andrade joins from CBS Interactive, where he served most recently as sales director. Jun was previously the head of Chelsea Football Club for Japan and Korea, where he played a key role in procuring the second largest deal in the English Premier League history with Yokohama Rubber Company Ltd. Both will report to Mark McFarlane, general manager, APAC.

Beijing-based Hylink Digital has announced the grand opening of its first-ever US office in Santa Monica and the appointment of Humphrey Ho (何俊轩) as its US managing director. The new office has the dual focus of supporting US brands’ advertising efforts in China as well as acquiring American film, TV and digital content for distribution in China.

After nearly five years of producing regional work for the Greater China market remotely from its Singapore office, local hot-shop The Secret Little Agency has officiated its opening in Shanghai and appointed co-founder Mavis Neo (梁金娘) as creative lead and production veteran Krystie Koh (高喻祺) as director of operations.

DDB Group Singapore hired writer and public personality Benjamin Lee, aka ‘Mr Miyagi’, as creative director of social media, a newly created role at Tribal Worldwide.

Ogilvy Brisbane appointed Ewen Pettit to the newly created role of senior strategy planner. He returns to Queensland from Ireland, where he was most recently senior strategist at Dublin-based agency Bricolage and worked with clients including Vodafone, Heineken and Audi.

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) announced that Paras Sharma, previously senior vice president of MTV, Comedy Central & Paramount Channel brands, and Digital Media for Asia, will take on the position of senior vice president and general manager for Southeast Asia (SEA), and will continue to report to Mark Whitehead, executive vice president and managing director, VIMN Asia Pacific. In addition, Simon Bates, vice president of MTV, Comedy Central & Spike brands for Australia and New Zealand, was appointed vice president, head of MTV Asia Pacific, and Comedy Central and Spike for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), and Kirsty Bloore, research director for ANZ, was promoted to senior director, research for Asia Pacific.

Terence Yam (任浩明) now heads up MSL Hong Kong as general manager. Prior to that he was leading the agency’s consumer and digital practice for more than two years. In that period, he claimed to have doubled the size of the HK office and built a social media team from zero.

Alvin Lim (林文质) will start work as Cheil Shanghai's ECD in October, replacing Michael Yuen, who left in February 2016. Lim was instrumental in winning the Infiniti digital and social pitch earlier this year. He has previously worked at JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, FCB and Grey Beijing. In addition, Stewart Szeto (司徒活) has joined as a “business leader” (a typical Korean corporate title) after gaining experience in business development at TBWA, DDB and J. Walter Thompson in China.

Jackson Kwok (郭耀辉) will serve as president of a newly formed company, X Horizon (艾希妮互动信息技术), under X Social Group after he left Omnicom Media Group Hong Kong in April. In his new role, Kwok will lead the development and expansion of a cross-border outdoor ad network, with programmatic and other new technologies combined with big data integration and analytics.

Allen Wang (王鼎绪) has been named managing director of Tribal Worldwide China, to be based in Shanghai. He was the former country manager of ICLP China (奥信常客策划顾问). Wang started his career in Taiwan and has been working in mainland China since 2008. Emen Chong was the ex-MD before Wang, but she was only responsible for Shanghai’s business.

WINS AND DEALS

FindDoc, Hong Kong’s first comprehensive medical professional platform, appointed The Hoffman Agency as its agency of record following a competitive multi-agency pitch. The agency will roll out PR strategy and stakeholder-engagement campaigns centered on establishing the company as a leader within the healthcare space.

Wireless solutions provider Comba Telecom, appointed WE Communications (WE) to lead its integrated communications and marketing efforts. The PR partner will help take the brand to international markets, increase its overall market visibility and enhance the industry’s collaboration and commitment through media relations, influencer engagement and content creation.

Hasselblad appointed Reuter Communications to manage its digital communications and PR in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Scope of work will include social media communications, influencer outreach programs, media and public relations, and brand alliances and events.  

Lewis is now the PR agency of record for JobsDB in Hong Kong to enhance the company’s thought leadership as a regional e-recruitment expert and build on its mindshare in the local market.  

Digital agency Langoor was selected by MoneyGram International to manage the company’s digital channels in the Middle East and Asia Pacific. The agency will support the money-transfer organisation through a wide range of expertise that includes insightful marketing strategies, building innovative web systems, e-commerce platforms, relevant campaigns, creating engaging experiences, effective analytic's and impactful digital marketing.