Move and win roundup: Week of April 18, 2022

GroupM has promoted Pathamawan (Linda) Sathaporn to become CEO of GroupM Thailand as of 1 May 2022. She replaces Niklas Stalberg who will be leaving the network after a decade. Sathaporn crosses over from her current position as CEO of Mindshare Thailand and will report to Himanshu Shekhar, whose remit as CEO of GroupM Indonesia and Vietnam has been expanded to include Thailand. Shekhar will report to Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO of GroupM Asia Pacific.

Redhill, the Singapore-headquartered communications agency, has hired Aditya Menon to lead Redhill Studio, a new specialist division offering services for the creation of creative assets and web development.

In addition to working closely with the wider Redhill teams, Redhill Studio will lead the agency’s provision of creative services for Singapore government communications campaigns – following Redhill’s appointment into the Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information’s Whole of Government (WOG) panel of vendors. 

Vaynermedia APAC has made four new creative hires. Pitha Udomkanjananan joins the agency as head of Creative in Thailand, and Mae Ong, Matthew Crescenzo and Rachel Hoo as creative directors in Singapore. They will report to VaynerMedia APAC Managing Partner and Head of Creative VJ Anand. Most recently, Udomkanjanana served as deputy executive creative director at BBDO Bangkok, while Ong was creative director at BBH Asia Pacific, Crescenzo was CD at Brave Bison and Hoo from Naga DDB. VaynerMedia APAC has hired three associate creative directors: Nicholas Goh in Singapore who was previously at BLKJ, Candice Chhoa in Malaysia who worked with Hoo at Naga DDB, and Napat Pornratanaraksa (June) in Thailand who worked alongside Udomkanjananan at BBDO Bangkok.

Singapore-based communications agency APRW has launched a digital studio that will have capabilities in various technical areas. The new practice will consist of specialists leading several functions including performance and influencer marketing; video production; design and creatives; content marketing; account servicing; strategy; and business development. Sharon Koh will lead the new studio as managing director.

Indian martech firm Wondrlab has appointed Sameet Ali Soni as content lead. He joins from Wunderman Thompson Bangalore where he was AVP and senior creative director. Soni is tasked with leading creative integration and content creation on a set of key accounts and will report to Amit Akali, co-founder and CCO. Soni will also partner with Rahul Mahajan who was recently promoted to creative lead.

Weber Shandwick has named Marianne Lamonin as executive vice president, social impact & sustainability, in a new APAC role. Reporting to APAC chief client and growth officer Vanessa Ho Nikolovski, Lamonin will be tasked to drive the firm’s ESG consulting capabilities in the region. She has spent the last 15 years in advisory roles for MNCs in areas including climate change, policy and advocacy, sustainability, energy transition, climate finance, industrial policies, and the future of globalisation. She has also overseen the strategic narratives and keynotes at multiple major energy and climate platforms and institutions including COP, NYC Climate Week, One Planet Summit, San Francisco Climate Summit, Clean Energy Ministerials, and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development.

Dentsu’s Merkle B2B has hired Farrokh Madon as chief creative officer for APAC. Based in Singapore, Madon will oversee the creative directions and for creative technology solutions and customer experience. Prior to this, he previously led various creative departments in Singapore at BBDO, McCann Erickson, Y&R, and Wunderman Thompson. In his new role, he will report to Kiaran Geen, APAC president of Merkle B2B, and Rhys Taylor, managing director, Merkle B2B Strategy and Creative APAC.

Sandpiper has made four new appointments to its ESG team in Singapore. Natalia Hausjah joins as senior account manager, and has close to a decade of experience in sustainability leadership positions at The Barton Partnership, Neste, and Sintesa Group. Also joining as senior account manager is Reena Mavjee. Prior to this, she was an advisor to ESG and climate data platform Equilibrium World. Jill Tan is a new senior account executive and joins from the Singapore Environment Council where she worked in the communications team. Samuel Tan is also appointed into the same role from another consultancy where he counselled on sustainability comms specifically in relation to the food, agricultural and nutrition sectors. 

Brand design and innovation agency JDO has appointed Greenly Lu as Asia VP. Based in Shanghai, Lu will build the agency’s foundation in China and surrounding markets by forging relationships with brands and delivering creative solutions. Prior to this, Lu was VP and one of the founding partners of Design Bridge Shanghai. On top of that, Aubery Huai joins the Shanghai team as design director. Huai recently served as project design lead at Labbrand where she crafted brand identities and supported full-brand implementation for clients including Coca-Cola, Indigo Hotel and Monde Nissin Group. 

Philippines communications agency The EON Group has appointed Malyn Molina as president and chief operating officer. Prior to this, Monlina was chief operations officer at Edelman Vietnam where she helped to double the company’s retainer business. Before that, she held senior leadership positions at EON from 2009 to 2016, capped by her previous role as managing director of Engage, the company’s reputation management, public affairs, and government relations arm.

Grey Malaysia has appointed two deputy ECDs. Heng Thang Wei is promoted from creative director and new hire Jeremy Yeoh joins from Naga DDB Tribal. Yeoh and Wei will now share joint responsibility over Grey Malaysia’s portfolio of clients, including Telekom Malaysia, Unifi, Carlsberg, Volvo and Coway. Wei has been with Grey Malaysia since 2014, joining from Leo Burnett as a senior art director and has since grown to lead his own team.  At Naga DDB Tribal, Yeoh was a creative director heading up KFC, Prudential and Wonda Coffee, winning numerous local and international awards throughout his 15-year career. Both will report to chief creative officer Graham Drew. 

Ed Cheong has been appointed as executive creative director ECD at RGA, reporting into Dorothy Peng, VP managing director at RGA Singapore. Cheong left his role as executive creative director of Iris Singapore after nearly eight years. Prior to that, he was creative director at DDB and creative group head at JWT. The agency also appointed Joschka Wolf as creative group head of experience design. Wolf was previously regional creative director of experience design at Ogilvy. Meanwhile, Shing Chew, who was group CD at RGA, left in January to TikTok as head of creative in SEA. 

Phil Adrien, APAC creative CEO at Dentsu, will de departing the agency following five years at the agency. Read full story.

BBDO Asia has promoted Jang-Yong Kim to Korea CEO. Kim, also known as JY, joined BBDO Korea in 2019 as the managing director, strengthening the agency's marketing and communication capabilities while driving creative and effective work for clients. BBDO Asia CEO Tze Kiat Tan credits Kim with improving productivity and strengthening BBDO's relationship with its biggest client in the region, Amore Pacific.

GroupM’s outcome-based agency mSix&Partners has appointed Subhamay Mukhopadhyay as managing partner, India. He will be responsible for accelerating the business growth of mSix&Partners and its clients in India through its integrated marketing solutions. He will also expand the agency’s capabilities in media and commerce, measurement and technology. Prior to this, Mukhopadhyay was vice president - client leadership at Mindshare. He joined the media agency in November 2005.   He takes over from Saket Sinha, who has been promoted as chief growth officer of mSix&Partners APAC. Sinha will be based in Singapore. Read full story.