Move and win roundup: Week of April 3, 2023

Publicis Groupe has promoted Jonathan Mackenzie to head of data solutions. Mackenzie has been at Publicis Media for more than six years, holding roles like managing director for Publicis Media Precision in APAC and head of data, technology and innovation for APAC.

VMLY&R has promoted Paul Nagy to chief creative officer for APAC. Nagy’s new role will have him overseeing 21 offices across 10 countries throughout Asia and AUNZ. Nagy first joined the agency as CCO of legacy brand Y&R, before being elevated to CCO of Australia & New Zealand at VMLY&R in 2018. 

MullenLowe Singapore has been reappointed as the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) creative agency, following a pitch at the end of MullenLowe’s previous remit. The agency previously won the account from Wunderman Thompson in 2020.  

Wavemaker India has appointed Deepa Jatkaras as chief growth officer. She joins Wavemaker from Meta India, where she was a part of the global sales and marketing team and a key member of the India sales leadership team. In her new role at Wavemaker, Jatkaras will report to Ajay Gupte, CEO of South Asia and will be based out of the agency’s Mumbai office. 

Social Panga, the integrated creative and digital marketing agency has bagged the marketing mandate for Indian online travel major Yatra. The mandate encompasses the development of brand and service-based social media strategies and campaigns aimed at amplifying Yatra’s presence among a diverse set of demographics. 

Independent media house BurdaLuxury has appointed Natasha Kraal as associate publisher for BurdaLuxury Kuala Lumpur, effective immediately. In this role, Kraal will oversee the editorial and marketing strategy for the company’s brands in Malaysia: Prestige, Lifestyle Asia, PIN Prestige, and Augustman. Kraal previously held the role of editor-in-chief at Harper’s Bazaar for 17 years, where she was overseeing all print, digital, social media, and commercial aspects of the brand. In 2021, she launched a wellness and lifestyle brand, Mynd, as well as her own consultancy, curating two fashion exhibitions along with branding for various lifestyle brands. 

SAP Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) has announced Peter Moore, who has held roles within SAP for the past ten years, will become head of enterprise cloud APJ. Sushant Jain, who has held multiple roles within SAP for more than eleven years, now takes on the role of head of spend management APJ. Liher Urbizu, who most recently was global head of partner success services for SAP, was named as chief operating officer for APJ. All will be based in Singapore. Moore and Jain will be responsible for the go-to-market strategy of their respective lines of business, evolving and expanding the core strategic business applications within each group. Urbizu has been part of the SAP ecosystem for over 20 years and has worked in multiple roles, based out of countries including India, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore during his career. As COO, he will lead a regional team to help execute strategy across Asia Pacific and Japan, maintaining a strong focus on creating lifetime value for customers and partners.   

Creative agency Today the Brave has been appointed by Australian-Mexican quick service restaurant chain Zambrero as its creative partner.

Enigma has launched a specialist property marketing division, and appointed Akira Galvin, in the newly created role of head of property and place, based in Sydney. With two decades of experience across strategic communication and branding, Galvin was most recently director of strategy and development at The Property Agency, and prior to that was director of brand experience for The Garden Agency. 

Tribal Worldwide Singapore (Tribal) has been appointed as the creative partner of the Singapore Army, following a competitive pitch for a three-year contract with the Army Recruitment Centre (ARC) that concluded in October 2022. Tribal is tasked to lead strategy, branding, digital, and integrated campaign management for ARC via its total experience (TX) suite of core consulting practices which blends customer (CX) and user experience (UX), data-led content, technology and behavioural science. 

Red Havas Australia has appointed Shane Russell as new CEO. Russel joins the agency and returns to Australia after more than a decade at New York-based 5W Public Relations. Havas Creative Group Australia recently experienced a strategic reshaping following the return of James Wright, Red Havas Global CEO and CEO of Havas Creative Group Australia, after four years based in the US. Other key appointments include:

• Gayle While appointed as CEO of Host Havas
• The promotion of Ant Moore to MD of Host Havas
• Amber Abbott became MD of One Green Bean, and Lauren Bailey made managing partner and director of Innovation 

Geometry Ogilvy Japan (GOJ) has elevated Yasushi Arikawa to executive creative director, and Naoto Nishimura, the former ECD at Beacon Communications, Tokyo, joined the agency as ECD. Nishimura will work alongside Arikawa to strengthen the agency, bringing together creative along with experience and social to provide a more integrated offering. The agency also promoted Kensui Arao and Yasuhito Imai to senior creative directors.  All four, led by CCO Doug Schiff, will be forming the agency's new GOJ Creative Council. 

Hearts & Science Australia has appointed Kylie Pascoe as General Manager in Melbourne.
With 20 years of experience in media and advertising roles covering planning, strategy, client management and leadership across clients in FMCG, retail, and financial services, she also works two years as the lead on Coles Group. Pascoe, Omnicom Media Group’s OMD head of group, returns to Melbourne, who was most recently, Sydney secondment as NSW Govt transition lead. She will report to Luke Hutchinson, chief operating officer of Australia.

PubMatic, an independent technology company, has appointed James Young as regional director for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Effective from September 2023, Young will lead the ANZ team, managing strategy, sales and operations for PubMatic in the region. Prior to PubMatic, Young was managing director of Australia for Magnite and also held senior roles with Telaria, The Guardian, and eBay. He is co-chair of the IAB Video Council. 

Visa has elevated Paulina Leong to the role of general manager, Hong Kong and Macau, effective immediately. With over 18 years of experience working in the payments industry, Leong was most recently Visa’s head of client relationship management for Hong Kong and Macau. In her new role, she will be based in Hong Kong, and be responsible for leading Visa’s business growth and operations in Hong Kong and Macau. 

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has appointed Laura Vallis to the position of head of communications. Vallis will be responsible for leading the globally integrated strategy, implementation and delivery of communications to employees, partners and external audiences. She will report to chief marketing officer Siddharth Taparia and will be based in New York. Vallis was most recently the first chief communications officer at Manulife, she also worked for Barclays’ Corporate & Investment Bank, Dow Jones and AB InBev before Manulife.

Omnicom recently celebrated OMD Hong Kong’s 25th anniversary in the city. The Hong Kong office is OMD’s first standalone full-service operation in the world. What started with just three employees in 1998 has grown into a full-service global network with more than 2,400 employees in 13 APAC offices and over 12,000 in over 100 countries globally.  

Dentsu and OOH Capital have announced a new commercial partnership focused on delivering mutually beneficial solutions for brands, retailers and municipal authorities with untapped physical footprint and potential display media inventory. The partnership will rope in Dentsu and its media agencies, namely Carat, Dentsu X and iProspect.