MullenLowe Group does away with regional lead role; Digonnet to retire

MullenLowe Group APAC announced that as of June 30, it will be led by Paul Soon, CEO of Singapore and China, and James Hollow, CEO of Japan and Hong Kong, following the retirement of Group CEO Vincent Digonnet.

Digonnet took up the APAC leadership role in 2017.

The company said the new leadership structure reflects MullenLowe Group’s "vision to create a more agile network built around individual and team skillsets and experience rather than geographical presence".

Last year, MullenLowe sold its operations in both Vietnam and Malaysia to local management.

“In APAC there has been a focus on our hyperbundled model to transform the network and grow collaboration and knowledge sharing within the Group," global CEO Alex Leikikh said in the release. "As we continue to develop our centres of excellence and drive specialised skillsets for each market, particularly at a time when creativity and purpose are more important than ever, I have no doubt Paul and James will successfully lead the agency to success and help brands on their own business transformation journey.”

Digonnet's ascent to APAC CEO in July 2017 followed his being named APAC CEO of MullenLowe Profero just a few months earlier. Prior to MullenLowe he spent several years leading Razorfish in the region.

“2020 has always been a hard stop for me ever since I joined MullenLowe, and key to the transformation of the region I have led in the past three years, has been the hiring and the nurturing of a management team to succeed me," Digonnet said in a statement provided to Campaign Asia-Pacific by a MullenLowe spokesperson. "I know I leave the region in extremely good hands with Paul and James.”

Soon joined MullenLowe Group in 2018 when it combined operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong to create MullenLowe Group Southeast Asia. Before that he served as APAC CEO of Possible, which followed his tenure as CEO of XM Asia.

Hollow has been CEO in Japan since 2017, before which he was CEO of MullenLowe Profero in Tokyo.