Move and win roundup: Week of February 20, 2023

Audacia has recently established a presence in Sydney, marking its move into the Australian market. The launch in Sydney coincides with the current growth of the audio advertising market. Audacia's entry into the Australian market was prompted by interest from both advertisers and publishers, following its launch in Singapore in 2022. 

Coty has promoted to Kristina Strunz as managing director for Southeast Asia and Distributor Markets. Strunz, who joined the company in 2021, as vice president of Southeast Asia and Distributor Markets Asia, will continue to oversee the implementation and roll out of the brand’s business and organisational transformation. 

Ogilvy Malaysia has been tasked to deliver brand and always-on social media management strategy for Costa Coffee including content creation, community management and campaign management. The appointment will see Ogilvy drive strategy, insights, creative ideation, in-store assets, video assets and social content.  

Wunderman Thompson has hired Shailesh Iyer as chief strategy officer. Iyer joins the Singapore operations from Publicis Groupe where he was chief strategy officer for Publicis Groupe Indonesia, leading the strategy practice across creative and digital. 

Amp Sound Branding has hired Martin Reiher, who was previously at Red Bull and MTV Staff, as head of Amp Asia. This specific hire is a tactical one aimed at increasing the company’s influence in the Asian market, as he is based in Singapore. 

TBWA has appointed Faye Raincock as global head of communications, with immediate effect.  Based out of London, Raincock will be responsible for creating and executing the global collective’s communication and content strategy, working with TBWA’s global leadership team and market leads around the world.  

GrabAds has named Rajiv Singh as Indonesian head. In his new role, Singh will spearhead the country sales strategy, business development and drive demand for GrabAds’ advertising services among merchants, brands, and agencies. Most recently, Singh led digital ad sales, distribution and sponsorship sales at Viu, Indonesia where he was responsible for driving revenue growth and expanding the company’s brand advertiser base. Singh will report directly to Dave Yang, regional head of direct sales and GTM at GrabAds. 

The Marketing Society has announced the appointment of Natalie Truong, CMO AMEA & partner at Mercer, as chair of The Marketing Society’s Hong Kong hub. Hina Wainwright, CMO at the Adm Group joins her as vice chair. The duo will lead the Society in Hong Kong, growing the community of senior marketing professionals, curating a programme of events, training, content, mentorship among other functions to upskill marketers in the region. 

Havas Australia has appointed James Wright as CEO of Havas Creative Network to lead agencies, including Host/Havas, h/commerce, Red Havas, Havas Blvd, One Green Bean and Organic. Wright returns to Havas Australia and will continue in his role as Global CEO Red Havas and Global Chairman of the Havas PR Global Collective. Wright joined the Havas Group in 2011 and was based in Australia until 2018 before moving to the US.  Havas Australia has also appointed Gayle While as CEO at Host/Havas, who will report to Wright. While joined from Dentsu, where she was chief client officer. Before Dentsu, she was CEO at Clemenger BBDO.

Eastwest Public Relations has appointed Naveen Kanagalingam and Raymond Lau as partners and co-managing directors. Based in Singapore, Kanagalingam and Lau have assumed full ownership of the agency and will be responsible for all aspects of its business, including client servicing, operations and growth. Combined, they have more than two decades of integrated communications experience in Asia Pacific, working mainly in the information technology and B2B space. 

Finn Partners Singapore has appointed Safina Samian as senior partner. In her new role and ss an instrumental member of the senior management team at the Singapore office, Safina continues to head the integrated marketing communications (IMC) practice and is responsible for growing and nurturing clients across sectors, such as technology, finance, healthcare, and energy. With two decades of experience, she is adept at delivering communications programmes across public relations, marketing communications, executive branding, government relations, and events PR. 

PropertyGuru Group, a Southeast Asian property technology company, has appointed its chief technology officer Manav Kamboj as managing director of the PropertyGuru Fintech business, to lead the business, leveraging technology, data, and analytics to drive further digitisation of the home loan process and operational excellence. Kamboj has been working closely with Fintech team since its inception. Joined PropertyGuru as CTO in 2017, he has spent over 20 years in the consumer internet industry across ecommerce, mobile applications and technology consulting, and over seven years in retail banking.

Azerion has appointed Jem Salcedo to lead its Melbourne operations. She will be responsible for providing Melbourne brands with Azerion's unique mix of high-impact creative and performance advertising solutions. Promoted to the head of sales ANZ eight months ago, Salcedo will relocate to Victoria and add additional focus to her responsibilities. Three years ago, she joined Inskin Media, which was integrated into Azerion in June 2022. Prior to Inskin Media, she worked at Val Morgan cinema group and News Corp.

Cartelux, the Australian ad-tech company, has expanded its business into the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Matthew Tickell is leading the American operations. He is an automotive industry leader with more than 15 years of experience in the management of automotive dealerships and automotive software providers, specifically CRM, marketing & data solutions. Before joining Cartelux, Tickell was director of sales and equity partner with e-GoodManners. 

The Media Shop, an independent media agency, has appointed Elaine Tan as the new media director. Prior to joining The Media Shop, Tan, a veteran with deep expertise, worked with network agencies like Omnicom Media Group and Havas. As a veteran with deep expertise, she has a strong foundation in media fundamentals and has worked with clients from B2B and B2C categories across various industries.

Kathryn Carter, the general manager for Asia Pacific at Snap has decided to leave, the platform confirmed with Campaign Asia-Pacific. Her last day in the office will be March 31, she will stay on through Q2 to provide guidance as Snap looks for a new leader. Carter has been with Snap for seven years, helping grow Snapchat across Asia.

Wunderman Thompson has appointed KJ Lee as managing director, to lead the agency’s South Korea operations. Lee has spent the last 20 years in top tier advertising companies, including Leo Burnett, WPP Geometry, Havas and Serviceplan, in addition to working client-side at Philip Morris. Lee will be responsible for building a Korea business that has creativity and technology at its core.

Edelman has made a series of key leadership appointments in Asia Pacific.

• Rakesh Thukral has been appointed as chief operating officer for APAC. In this new role, Thukral will report to Warren Fernandez, Edelman’s CEO for Asia Pacific, and oversee the day-to-day operations across the region while working with APAC leadership team to shape business plans. He will also continue to serve as managing director of Edelman India. 
• Michelle Hutton is now the vice chair of client solutions, tasked with helping client leaders to strategise, plan, ideate, price and cast for all major client work, overseeing the client experience as well as the quality of the firm’s service and output. 
• Adrian Warr will take on the regional role of vice chair, practices and sectors. While continuing to lead the firm’s employee engagement offering in the region, Warr will also partner with the respective regional practice and sector leads for the continuous development of APAC's brand, corporate, impact and ESG teams, as well as the health and technology sector offerings.
• Edelman’s CEO for South Korea, SB Jang, will take on an additional role as senior regional advisor.
• Edelman’s CEO for Malaysia, Mazuin Zin, will also take on an additional role as SEA regional advisor, ensuring close collaboration between the respective country leads and the broader business. Read in detail here. 

Bastion Experience has entered the fast-growing southeast Queensland market with Rohan Sawyer leading the agency in the newly created role of Queensland managing director. Sawyer will lead the Bastion Experience team on the ground in Queensland while providing clients with access to the full suite of integrated communications services under Bastion’s ‘Think Wide’ model. Sawyer will join from Queensland Rugby League where he has spent five years as CEO and chief operating officer.

Aboitiz Data Innovation (ADI) has appointed Felicia Li-Gaillard to the role of chief marketing officer, where she will oversee the planning, development, and execution of ADI’s marketing initiatives to bolster their presence and growth within the region. Formerly the head of APAC marketing for Facebook Gaming and Audience Network at Meta, Li-Gaillard led the integrated marketing and go-to-market strategy across the region. Li-Gaillard was selected as one of Campaign Asia’s Women to Watch in 2018.