Wrapup: 9 things you need to know this week

The top 100 Chinese brands are now worth US$464.2 billion

New entrant Alibaba and Tencent have taken the top spots in Millward Brown's BrandZ ranking of Chinese companies by brand value, sending China Mobile to No.3. The ranking also shows market-driven companies surging ahead of state-owned enterprises.

Why Greg Armshaw left McCann for a visual-analytics startup

Our Emily Tan delivered the scoop on why Greg Armshaw left McCann after about nine years for a startup working on visual analytics.

Local agencies losing out to international networks

A survey by Pearlfinders revealed that the number of Asian brands planning to seek agency support is up 70 per cent over a year earlier. That's the good news. The bad news, at least for independent and local agencies, is that clients are showing an increased preference for international agencies, many of whom have made themselves more credible by hiring local in-market talent.

There's no shortcut to authentic brand experiece

In one of the longer features we've run in recent memory, Adrian Tse introduced A Work of Substance, an agency/interior design firm with an old-fashioned devotion to craft and valuable ideas for any brand marketer.

CtrlShift: A new programmatic player arises

The founders of CtrlShift believe brands in Southeast Asia aren't getting what they need from established ad-tech vendors, who offer point solutions. A more end-to-end approach, they believe, will help them capitalise on pent-up demand for digital strategy and programmatic support. 

MediaCom names regional chief commercial officer

MediaCom named Gilles Detanger, formerly of Publicis Worldwide and Singapore Sports Hub, as chief commercial officer for the region. He replaces John Rees, who is now global commercial director at Carat in the UK.

Scandanavian invaders enter Singapore

The North Alliance, a Scandinavian agency network, is launching its first office in Asia with “digital-centric” shop Acoustic.

Hong Kong advertisers ripped for being sticks in the mud

We acknowledge that Kevin Huang has a bias, as he works for a digital-advertising company. But he backs up his rather blistering opinion of advertisers in Hong Kong with facts.

You may be aware of an American footballAdvertising event happening this weekend

Many Super Bowl advertisers went ahead and released their ads ahead of time, and the one's that didn't at least released teasers for their big-money spots. Ad Nut and Campaign US have you covered.