Move and win roundup: Week of February 13, 2023

Close to the heels of VaynerMedia’s APAC head of creative appointment, the agency has hired marketer Yash Murthy in Australia as group creative director. For more than a decade, Murthy has honed his skills at creative shops such as Ogilvy, AKQA, M&C Saatchi, and most recently at Guzman y Gomez where he was the head of creative and strategy leading brand strategy, campaign development, content planning and production. His new role at VaynerMedia is effective immediately; he will work closely with head of Australia, Amy Bradshaw and help strengthen business impact and growth plans in the region.

The Mission Group, comprising a group of digital marketing and communications agencies has acquired a global data science and digital analytics consultancy, Mezzo Labs. Headquartered in London, Mezzo Labs has operations in Singapore and a strong presence with financial services blue-chip clients. With the acquisition, The Mission Group is looking to expand its core capabilities and scale the ability to target global businesses across a range of sectors.

Spurwing Communications has hired Anita Abeygoonesekera as account director to further expand its offering to healthcare clients. Seasoned medical communications practitioner, Abeygoonesekera joins Spurwing from Nucleus Global where she worked across key APAC markets, including mainland China. She is also a trained pharmacist coupled with frontline experience in primary health in New Zealand.

Jan Harling has left his role as director of brand media and performance for APAC at Foodpanda because of recent layoffs, Campaign understands. According to sources, up to 15% of Foodpanda's workforce are affected by the layoffs. However, the platform insists that it is a "highly inflated number".

EssenceMediacom has appointed Silas Ho as managing director and Anthony Lau as managing partner in Hong Kong. Most recently, Ho was head of digital, while Lau was head of strategy at MediaCom in the market. Ho began his career as an integrated planner, and evolved into a digital specialist in data, digital technology and performance marketing. Reporting to both APAC CEO, Rupert McPetrie, and GroupM Hong Kong CEO, Alice Chow, Ho will draw the roadmap for the new agency in the market. Reporting to Ho, Lau will focus on formulating the agency's business development strategy, while continuing to oversee its strategic output in Hong Kong. With over 10 years of experience at creative and media agencies, Lau is a highly awarded strategist who helped diversify MediaCom's HK offerings from media planning to content creation, data analytics, branding consultancy and more. 

Content marketing company Convo Ink has appointed Emma Yexley as sales director and promoted Bianca Hafford to the newly created role of creative and implementation director. Yexley joins from audio business ARN where she was digital sales lead. She is responsible for positioning cross-channel content solutions for both agencies and direct clients, Hafford, the former partnership manager at Convo Ink has been promoted to the role of creative and implementation director, where she will lead the creative efforts and oversee the execution of content marketing strategies for clients. Both Yexley and Hafford will report to Lena Rapley, Convo Ink's head of sales, who joined the business in September last year. 

AIA Singapore has re-appointed Ogilvy Public Relations as its PR agency of record from January 2023. The re-appointment of strategic communication duties spans across an additional three years, extending Ogilvy’s long-standing partnership with AIA Singapore since 2010. Ogilvy is also AIA Singapore’s social agency of record. The agency is tasked with the mandate to strengthen AIA Singapore’s brand reputation as a life insurer and employer brand in Singapore.