Move and win roundup: Week of August 15, 2022

DDB Group Singapore has promoted Neel Chhaya as managing partner. He will be tasked to spearhead the agency’s growth agenda and expand collaboration and synchronising efforts with offices from across the network on global accounts, supported by Jeff Cheong, who stepped up as CEO of DDB Group Singapore in January. Over the past six years, Chhaya has steered key business partnerships at the Singapore office, including Exxon, MAS, GIC, National Environment Agency, Samsonite, and Unilever. Before joining DDB, Chhaya spent time at McCann Worldgroup, The Bonsey Design Partnership, and OgilvyOneWorldwide. 

Indian brand consultancy Interbrand has bolstered its leadership team, firstly with the appointment of Satish Krishnamurthy as chief strategy officer. Ameya Kapnadak takes on the role of chief growth officer and head of consulting. Payal Shah is now the strategy director and head of Human Truths while Rahul Bansal will function as the strategy director and head of brand economics.

MediaCom has been named media agency-of-record for Southeast Asian ecommerce platform Lazada, in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam following a competitive regional pitch. Its scope includes both offline media planning and buying. The contract already commenced August 1^st 2022.

Sun Life Indonesia has picked M&C Saatchi Indonesia as its creative partner. The scope of services includes developing a new brand platform and executing it through the line. 

Stink Studios has appointed Etienne Chia as its new managing director for China, taking over from Ramzi Chaabane who is moving back to Paris to take up a new role in the metaverse space. Chia has previously worked for Uniplan, Mediaman and Freeman in Shanghai, and most recently as principal consultant at Lightbridge Consulting. 

The Interactive Advertising Bureau Southeast Asia and India (IAB SEA+India) has announced the digital industry association’s 2022-2023 regional board welcoming three new Members; Enshe Manto from Johnson & Johnson; Deepika Nikhilender from Xaxis; and Indy Khabra from Livewire. In first name alphabetical order the IAB SEA+India Regional Board is:

●      Addy Cutts, Regional Director SEA, Oracle Advertising
●      Alvin Liong, Founder & Managing Director, ilmuOne Data
●      Delilah Chan, Head of Channel Partnerships SEA, TikTok
●      Deepika Nikhilender, Senior Vice President APAC for Xaxis
●      Enshe Manto, APAC Consumer Experience Director for Data-Driven Marketing & eCommerce Acceleration, Johnson & Johnson
●      Indy Khabra, Co-Founder and CEO, Livewire
●      JJ Eastwood, Managing Director, Carousell Media Group
●      James Sampson, Regional Head, Strategy & Partnerships, GrabAds
●      Katie Potter, Head Of Luxury, Beauty & Sports, Asia Pacific, Teads
●      Mitch Waters, Senior Vice President, SEA, India, Australia & NZ, The Trade Desk
●      Rika Sharma, Head of Agency, Partner & Industry Relations APAC, Google
●      Sarah Mathews, Group Head of Destination Marketing, APAC, TripAdvisor
●      Sea Yen Ong, Regional Head of Sales for SEA, HK & TW, Spotify
●      Sumit Khanna, Head of Global Strategic Accounts APAC, LinkedIn
●      Tawana Murphy Burnett, Head of Global Clients and Categories, APAC, Meta
●      Tina Pang, Head of Sales SEA, Twitter
●      Vidyarth Eluppai Srivatsan, Global Head of AdTech & Media Platforms, Coca Cola

Former Telum Media managing director Tim Williamson has launched Leon Communications, a new strategic communications consultancy focused on the financial and professional services sectors and fintech in Asia Pacific. Prior to Telum, he previously worked at the BBC, Bloomberg and Brunswick, was APAC managing director at Cognito Media and led the financial services practice for Singapore-based strategic consultancy Watatawa. Based in Singapore, Leon Communications will provide a full suite of corporate communications services including strategy and messaging, reputation management, media relations, integrated communications and media training supported by a network of senior independent communications experts and partners in APAC and globally.

Southeast Asian popular culture marketing agency, Culture Group, has added to its senior leadership team with two key appointments. Jakeena Malli promoted as managing partner, will lead the delivery team, building on her work on partnerships and content driven programs for clients including kumu, Globe Group, Spotify, and Wattpad. Ross Henderson joins as managing partner, charged with developing the agency’s creative and content offerings, including consumer insights, brand strategy, and partnership opportunities. Henderson was previously head of business leadership and managing partner at BBH Singapore.

Livewire is promoting Joseph Lee from commercial director of SEA to be the company’s head of SEA following several months of successful relationship and client-building as the business scales in the region.

Ogilvy Malaysia has announced the appointment of Michelle Ong as executive group director reporting to chief executive Ogilvy Malaysia, Nizwani Shahar. Ong has been tasked with driving the agency’s borderless creativity strategy, approach, and opportunities across key clients as well as elevating the diversity and business leadership capabilities across existing and potential clients.

Barney Pierce has joined Cover Genius as senior vice president of partnerships for APAC. He was previously at Google for 16 years, where he was responsible for go-to-market, sales and partnerships for Google's media and marketing technology business in New York, Sydney and Mountain View, CA. 

Preferred Hotels & Resorts has appointed Lori Strasberg as senior vice president of marketing. Strasberg leads the brand’s global marketing strategy with the help of marketing specialists in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, China, and Singapore.

Ogilvy Thailand has chosen Chatree Chokmongkolsatian as its new chief strategy officer. Before joining Ogilvy, Chokmongkolsatian was head of business and strategy group, specialising in digital and retail marketing.

Former group brand director at Wieden+Kennedy London, Amber Martin, and The Works creative director, Guy Patrick, have joined forces to launch Hypnosis, a new independent creative agency in Perth. Hypnosis launches with two foundation clients, Dirty Clean Foods and Lightning Minds. 

EssenceMediacom has chosen Jacky Chen, as its new talent director. He will be based in Shanghai and report directly to Rupert McPetrie, CEO MediaCom APAC, Benjamin Wei, CEO of Essence China, and Michelle Jiang, chief talent officer, GroupM Greater China.  

YouGov has appointed Laura Robbie as CEO of Asia Pacific. Robbie previously held the role of managing director of Australia for YouGov for the past three years.

DDB Asia has appointed Peter Lewis in a new role as chief people officer. He previously ran an eponymous mentorship business and prior to that was regional strategy director at DDB Asia Pacific. He will lead talent development, collaboration, training, and agency culture, including the region’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy. Lewis will work alongside the agency's global chief people officer Roisin Rooney and DDB Asia CEO David Tang. 

Ogilvy has hired Matthew Curry as global executive creative director for IBM. In this role, Curry will be responsible for the creative vision for EightBar, a WPP team dedicated to IBM. He spent the last three years at McCann New York as deputy chief creative officer leading the agency’s Verizon account. There, he oversaw the launch of their 5G network as well as Super Bowl campaigns. This marks a homecoming for Curry as he began his career working in Ogilvy’s Beijing office. He’s spent seven years in China, a year in Korea, and a year in Italy. 

Team ITG has acquired New Zealand-based Brand Machine. Brand Machine helps marketing teams of multi-location and franchise brands run, thanks to its expertise in local area marketing automation, digital asset management and proposal solutions. Following the acquisition, Team ITG will leverage Brand Machine’s expertise as a vehicle for innovation, and their knowledge of the APAC market.

Bohemia, part of the M&C Saatchi Group, has appointed Phil Spurden as head of performance. Spurden joins Bohemia from Apparent where for three years he was director of digital performance. In his new role, he will lead Bohemia’s digital and performance marketing offering, building digital skills and capability, together with driving measurable outcomes for clients.

Wiredco has recently made four new hires as part of its 'Recruit Your Mates' initiative. The agency has hired Audrey Joseph as creative & content manager, Nelson Elvery-Porter (campaign manager), Dean Fernance (community manager), and Carley Paulsen (social media specialist).   

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) Philippines has named Meryl Yap as general manager. Yap has held client leadership roles throughout her career working in global and local advertising agencies. In her previous client leadership roles at Mindshare, she oversaw the planning and strategy portfolio for various Unilever brands across the food, confectionery, oral and skincare categories. Prior to this, she was ABS CBN’s head of digital sales and sales strategy and was in charge of expanding and developing the network’s digital ecosystem selling strategy. In her new role, Yap will be overseeing the agency’s client accounts, managing new business pitches and streamlining agency processes to ensure growth of its clients’ businesses. She will report to the CEO of OMG Philippines Mary Buenaventura.

Wavemaker has appointed Jenny Pham as APAC head of media for Colgate-Palmolive. She will be responsible for leading the Colgate-Palmolive business for the region. In July, Wavemaker launched a new agency model for Colgate-Palmolive, creating an Asia-Pacific hub in Singapore designed specifically to support the client’s business transformation agenda. The team will develop strategy and audience planning for the region across Colgate-Palmolive’s product portfolio, and lead execution through the performance practice established over recent years. Pham is based in Singapore and reports to Rose Huskey, chief client officer of Wavemaker Asia-Pacific. Pham previously worked in senior roles at GroupM agencies in Australia including Essence as VP, client partner, MEC (pre-merger) and at Mindshare as business director. 

Teneo has appointed Mark Watson as head of strategy in APAC. Prior to this, Watson was global head of sustainability at John Swire & Sons. He also held roles as head of environmental affairs at Cathay Pacific, head of corporate environmental affairs at SBAC, and policy advisor at the Energy Retail Association. Watson will work closely with Gaby Sulzberger, chair of the Global ESG Advisory, to advise CEOs, boards and leadership teams on the development and execution of their ESG ambitions and create strategies to engage critical stakeholders.