Move and win roundup: Week of February 21, 2022

Wavemaker appointed Darko Lin as head of audience planning for Asia-Pacific, a newly created role in which he will be a key member of the Wavemaker product team, leading the audience-planning practice and driving client business transformations by "bringing together innovation, creativity, data and tech to positively provoke growth", according to the company. Lin was previously senior vice president of regional marketing at Lazada, where he led the branding arm of the regional marketing team. He also has experience at Alibaba Group, Edelman and Mediacom. He reports to Charlotte (Charlie) Wright, APAC chief growth officer. 

Redhill announced that Sharanjit Leyl, former BBC producer and presenter, has joined the agency as senior advisor. She will be working with the agency’s management team and consultants on deepening media relations and engagement as well as multimedia content strategies. 

Trip.com Group appointed Upcycle Communications to handle public relations for its key Southeast Asian markets including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The agency will develop, oversee and implement an effective and sustained integrated PR strategy that will, among other objectives, enhance regional awareness about the group’s initiatives, including but not limited to enhancing its influence with governments, consumers, key media and key opinion leaders. The 12-month appointment started on February 1 following a competitive pitch held in January.

Asean fintech company BigPay appointed Lion & Lion as its digital and social-media marketing partner for Malaysia and Singapore. Lion & Lion has developed an integrated creative solution that utilises social media to grow BigPay’s digital presence and increase the brand’s share of voice among millennials.The campaign will utilise a combination of interactive content developed specifically for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as partnerships with influencers and creators. 

Independent PR agency W in Singapore added Bugaboo and Tumi to its client roster. The remits for Bugaboo and Tumi will cover both Singapore and Malaysia, and blend strategic and creative thinking together with media and influencer engagement to generate awareness and strengthen preference for both brands.

Katie Rigg-Smith, Australia CEO of GroupM agency Mindshare, will become WPP chief strategy officer for Australia and New Zealand, taking up the role left vacant by Rose Herceg, who was recently appointed WPP president for Australia and New Zealand. Rigg-Smith will remain in the CEO role until a successor is found. She has been with Mindshare for 23 years starting as an intern, and has been CEO for nine years.

Global growth agency Claxon appointed Keith Byrne as executive creative director and Ari Saikkonen as performance director. Byrne was previously at Digitas Singapore and prior to that RGA and Ogilvy in London. Saikkonen has been head of digital marketing at Grace Loves Lace, digital marketing manager at Ardent Leisure and head of performance media at McCann.

Red Havas Brisbane appointed Kyra Shakspeare to the newly created role of client services director. She will be charged with helping to redefine the agency’s Brisbane presence and cultivating a high-performing team while also providing senior counsel to Red Havas’ national health division. She will report to Haylie Marchant, executive director, and brings 12 years experience working with consumer and health clients, including Swiss, Chobani, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare, Cotton On Group, eHarmony and Land Rover. 

Kantar promoted Katie McClintock to managing director for Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) and appointed Emma Eichbaum as head of client growth in Singapore. Both women are Kantar veterans. McClintock was previously CEO of Insights. Eichbaum had prior tenures with Kantar in New Zealand and Thailand. Both appointments are effective immediately and based in Singapore.

Indian martech startup Wondrlab appointed Siddhyesh Narkar as chief technology officer and Shama Sayed as head of sales. Both will be based in Mumbai and will report to Vandana Verma, co-founder and managing partner. Narkar was previously CTO at Digitas and SapientRazorfish. Sayed has over two decades of experience in broadcast and digital. She has worked with brands such as Star, Sony and Investing.com.

Imagination appointed Shirley Lee as general manager in its Shanghai office. She will report to China’ managing director Julien Dupuis. She joins from Freeman Beijing, where she was general manager and has over 20 years of experience in creating brand experiences across Asia Pacific, Greater China and internationally. Earlier in her career she was with Jack Morton. She will support the senior management team to drive transformation and operational excellence across all areas of the business.

Mediahub Australia announced its appointment  as media agency of record for AHI Carrier Australia, which represents Toshiba air conditioners and heat pumps. The win follows a pitch. The client cited the agency's ongoing growth and expanded footprint across Asia, due to its competitive, full-service media offering across all media disciplines, and its focus on measurable results.  

Quantum Consumer Solutions appointed Siddharth Kapur as associate partner in Mumbai. He has over 14 years of experience in brand-building and consumer strategy across organisations including Tata Nano, Manza, Pepsodent, Lifebuoy and Protinex. In his new role he will be responsible for leading the compamy's Mumbai operations.

Australian-owned furniture brand Early Settler appointed digital agency Magic as its digital agency of record. The agency takes responsibility for rebuilding Early Settler’s entire digital ecosystem and finding new ways to engage and build a better brand experience. The remit includes digital strategy, development of adtech, martech, mathematical modelling and attribution, media-buying and performance media. Work commences immediately.

In Pakistan, Starcom-affiliated Brainchild Communications won the $3.75 million media account for Habib Bank Limited. The agency also hired Talha Butt as an assistant manager in digital and Areeba Alvi, Athar Mehmood, Karim Nuaman, Sidra Pervaiz, and Fizza Iftikhar as management trainees.

Domino's Pizza appointed FCB Malaysia as its agency of record for creative duties in Malaysia, following chemistry sessions and a creative proposal in Q4. The client cited the agency's reputation as brand builders and "unmistakable entrepreneurial energy" as reasons for the selection. Shaun Tay, FCB Malaysia’s co-owner and CEO, said in a release that the Domino’s marketing team's desire to leverage the identity of a "global powerhouse to promote a proposition that embraces local marketing flavour" aligns well with the agency's ethos. FCB Malaysia already created the idea of 'Can’t Get Cheesier Than This' for the brand's new Mega Cheese Pizza.

Ogilvy China appointed Neil Nand as director of creative technology for Ogilvy Shanghai. He will partner with the agency's creative teams to bring the latest technology solutions into our creative process and develop immersive end-to-end brand experiences for clients, the agency said. Nand has experience across sectors including automotive, technology, luxury, FMCG and sports. He was most recently director of technology for BBH China and head of technology for AKQA Shanghai.

The Tasmanian Government’s destination marketing agency, Tourism Tasmania, appointed digital agency Orchard as its digital transformation agency of record, following a competitive pitch. Orchard will lead Tourism Tasmania’s digital transformation and strengthen its digital capabilities by enhancing the tourism destinations’ innovative, personalised and data-driven digital experiences. Orchard has signed an initial three-year contract period with the first phase of work to launch in June.

Alicja Cybulska was appointed as chief strategy officer for Havas Group Southeast Asia and North Asia, effective immediately. Transferring from Havas Poland to Singapore, she will report to Alberto Canteli, chairman and CEO of Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Middle East, Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan, and will be responsible for businesses across the Southeast Asia and North Asia regions.

The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive, promoted creative director Barbara Humphries to executive creative director of The Monkeys Sydney, effective immediately. She has created campaigns for brands including Ikea, Coca-Cola, Nike, UN Women Australia, Nestle, Qantas, Berlei, NRMA Insurance and MLA. 

Whitegrey hired Magdalina Triantafyllidis as Melbourne managing director. Triantafyllidis joins from her role as managing director of WPP’s integrated creative, media and technology offering for Ford across Australia and New Zealand. 

Shopper, an offline media business in Australia, appointed former chief operations officer and founding partner Ed Couche as chief executive officer. Couche steps into the role following the January death of co-founder Ben Walker, with whom he established the business in 2015. 

CupShup, a full-service agency based in India, promoted Nikshit Patani to the position of VP of growth. Prior to this Patani has served CupShup for five-plus years at different levels. In his new role he will report to Sourav Kumar, founder of the agency, and will be accountable for the overall growth of CupShup and will be responsible for client relationships, retention programming, planning expansion strategy and people and process building across the organisation.