Move and win roundup: Week of January 22, 2024

Leo Burnett Australia has announced key internal promotions, including Andy Fergusson as chief creative Officer and Julia Sheehan as melbourne general manager. Fergusson, who was previously national executive creative director, has led award-winning projects like Suncorp's 'Resilience' and Diageo's 'Bundy Mixer', whilst Sheehan, promoted from head of business management, takes over as Melbourne GM from Kate Silver. Silver is departing after eight years with the agency to spend more time with her family. Finally, Marijke Spain has now been appointed to creative director (formerly associate creative director) recognised for her contributions to Leo Burnett's acclaimed work and client relations. Michael Rebelo, CEO of Publicis Groupe ANZ, praised the promotions, emphasising the agency's commitment to innovation and client success. 

FCB Aotearoa has appointed Alan Jones and Angelo An as creative directors, elevating them from their previous roles as senior creatives. With a collaborative history dating back to their beginnings at FCB in 2011, the duo further honed their skills during a stint at M&C Saatchi London, where they played instrumental roles in high-profile projects for notable clients. Returning to FCB in 2021, Jones and An have since spearheaded award-winning campaigns, including 'Toll Booth' and 'Through My Eyes.' Their extensive experience is underscored by accolades such as Cannes Lions, D&AD, Immortal Awards, Gold at One Show, and AXIS Grand Prixs. Both were also recognised as top 10 ranked Creatives on BestAds and crowned Creative Team of the Year at the 44th AWARD Awards in 2023. 

Michael (Mike) Forster, former managing director of M&C Saatchi's Shopex in Indonesia, has joined Scop3 Group—a strategic marketing advisory agency equipped with contracting services to maximise revenues specialising in the hospitality industry. Forster, who left Shopex in August 2023, will continue to be based in Jakarta, and takes on the role of managing director for Scop3. Prior to his time at Shopex, Forster was the CEO of Geometry Global, based out of the Gangnam District, Seoul in South Korea. He spent over 7 years with the agency, having started as an executive global client director there in August 2013.

Unilever has appointed Emotive to lead the revitalisation of iconic Australian ice cream brand, Weis. The latest appointment marks Emotive's foray into the ice cream category after collaborating with Unilever since 2017 on various brands. Tasked with addressing a decline in Weis' market share, the brand joins Emotive's wide-ranging client roster, which includes Optus, Google, Audible, Pernod Ricard, Mount Franklin, Breville, and Seven West Media. The account will be led by Darren Wright, group creative director, who joined the agency in September 2023.

 

MudraMax has elevated Deleise Ross to senior vice president and head of business. Ross was previously associate vice president. In her new capacity, she will lead business operations for the agency's West and South division and report to Rammohan Sundaram, president for Integrated Media, DDB Mudra Group.

Huge CEO Max Baxter has officially stepped down from his role, citing a relocation back to Australia for family reasons. Baxter, who was in the role since June 2021, played a pivotal role in reshaping the digital agency's focus towards data and technology, including notable investments in AI such as the launch of Living Intelligence Value Engine (LIVE) in June. Baxter was previously with Initiative for over five years, serving as group CEO and chairman, and global chief strategy and creative officer at IPG Mediabrands prior. He also served as CEO for UM Worldwide for over four years in Sydney, Australia and chief strategy officer for Mediacom.

Lisa De Bonis, who previously held the position of chief product officer since September 2022, has assumed the role of CEO. De Bonis actively contributed to overseeing the development and deployment of LIVE, aligning with Baxter's strategic vision for Huge. De Bonis was previously a managing director with Accenture Interactive. Full details of the appointment can be read here.

Ex-CGO of Mindshare APAC Rohan Lightfoot has announced via a LinkedIn post that he's commencing a new role as the founder of Signal Consulting. Lightfoot, who was with the GroupM agency for over five years departed the agency in November 2023 as reported by Campaign at the time. With over 20 years of experience in the marketing, advertising and media industry, Lightfoot was previously with New Media Working Group, Isobar and Carat China. 

Digital Refresh Networks, an AI-assisted content solutions company, has named Rahool Talukdar as the head of creative. In his new role, Talukdar will spearhead efforts to go beyond traditional advertising, delving into various content formats like long form, short form, Content for Commerce, and OTT Stories. With 16 years in advertising across diverse agencies, Talukdar boasts experience with notable clients such as Hyatt Hotels, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Fossil Watches. He was also previously a senior creative director at Dentsu's iProspect for over four years.

StackAdapt appointed Liam McCarten as vice president of sales for Asia-Pacific, based in Singapore. McCarten will have the remit to manage APAC with an initial focus on Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Japan. McCarten joins having worked at Meta for the past nine years, whe he was director of global business group APAC, leading the health, beauty, luxury and technology verticals, and supporting the largest brands and agencies across the region.

Dheeraj Raina has been appointed vice president and head of integrated marketing and communications for South East Asia at Mastercard. Raina has previously held the role of chief executive of media at Dentsu and was most recently chief marketing and strategic communications officer at Gentari.

Enshe Manto has become chief of staff for APAC at Kenvue. She was previously head of media for APAC and spent more than four years at Johnson & Johnson, before the formation of Kenvue to lead J&J’s consumer healthcare division.

Kartika Guerrero has joined Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison as senior vice president of digital distribution and partnerships, based in Indonesia. She was most recently at Fonterra based in Singapore, where she was digital and media director for more than two years.

Alexander Oakden has left Google after more than four years where he was head of data and analytics partnerships. He is returning to the UK before returning to Singapore to launch his new business. Before Google, Oakden spent more than three years at Dentsu where his last role was the APAC vice president of strategy and commerce.

Quantcast has announced three new senior appointments in its Singapore office. Lavin Vaswani has been appointed commercial director, Asia; Jayaram Gopinath Nagaraj has been named group agency lead, Asia; and Joyce Seah joins the business as head of client success, APAC. Seah and Vaswani will report to Sonal Patel, vice president of APAC, based out of Singapore. Vaswani was most recently the sales account director for Twitch, and in his new role, will lead sales in Asia. Nagaraj comes to Quantcast from Meta, where he had a four-year stint as APAC agency development lead and an agency partner. He has also worked as general manager for Blaze Digital in Malaysia, and head of digital for Astro Radio. Seah has previously worked at Facebook as a regional solutions partner, following account director stints at Amnet and Publicis Groupe.

Customer engagement platform Komo Technologies has hired Simon Rollenbeck to become the company’s head of marketing, a newly created role. Rollenbeck previously held the role of head of APAC marketing for Egencia at Expedia.

Financial and professional services PR and communications agency Leon Communications has appointed John McGuinness as senior consultant. In this role, he focuses on building the agency’s professional services sector practice while working with financial services clients on PR and crisis and issues management. McGuinness’ most recent role was global director of media relations and public affairs at law firm Baker McKenzie, where he also served as AsiaPacific head of communications.

Kristie Cheung, who was most recently the global head of marketing communications at Lalamove, has left the company. Cheung spent close to four years at Lalamove and was named Campaign’s Women to Watch in 2022. Before working for brands in 2017, Cheung spent over a decade in advertising, from Greater China to Southeast Asia, when she was selected as Cheil’s Outstanding Performer, BBDO’s Rising Star, and Saatchi & Saatchi’s Star.

After almost seven years at the helm, Ahmed ElSheikh, currently CEO for PepsiCo India, will move on from his current role to assume new responsibilities within PepsiCo as the CEO for the Middle East Business Unit as of March 2024. Jagrut Kotecha currently chief commercial officer for PepsiCo in Africa, Middle East, and South Asia (AMESA) will assume the role of CEO for PepsiCo India in his place. Kotecha, who has been with the brand since 1994, has over 25 years of experience across the sales and marketing arena, having also worked with Cadbury earlier in his career.

 

Ogilvy Indonesia has appointed Kapil Arora as chief operating officer, effective January 2024. Previously, Arora had spent over four years as co-chairman and CEO of 82.5 Communications and prior to that, was the president of Ogilvy North, having spent nearly 20 years with Ogilvy in India. There, he led teams that created campaigns across brands like MTR Foods, Sasken, Titan and Hutch.

 

Annie Yam has been appointed marketing lead, Vision Care ANZ, IN, SEA, TW at Johnson & Johnson. Yam will lead marketing in a cluster of APAC markets for Acuvue, the household contact lens brand that helps patients with vision correction needs to see better. Yam previously spent 10 years at P&G leading marketing for skincare brand SK-II across Asian markets.

 

Former gold-winning Olympic swimmer, Mack Horton, has joined Clemenger BBDO as a business manager in the creative agency’s Melbourne office. Horton told the Sydney Morning Herald that the position came about after he spent a few days in the agency learning what was involved. In addition to swimming, Horton has held positions as an ambassador for companies like Optus and, as of March 2023, the presidency of the Australian Swimmers Association. He holds a degree in general business.