Move and win roundup: Week of January 30, 2023

Creative agency Today the Brave has been appointed by proptech startup Coposit. The startup allows purchasers to secure their new home with a fraction of the deposit, followed by weekly installments – called ‘coposits’ – over the course of construction, with no interest or fees. 

VMLY&R has hired Rachel Walker as head of strategy for Sydney and Melbourne.  As head of strategy, Walker will connect client’s business growth with creative excellence across the Sydney and Melbourne client portfolio while also strengthening and scaling the agency’s strategic offering. 

Initiative has been appointed as Sanitarium Health Food Company’s media agency of record, working across the Sanitarium portfolio including iconic brands Weet-Bix, So Good and UP&GO. Initiative’s remit includes overall responsibility for media strategy, planning and buying across all traditional media. 

Poison Gas Co. has been appointed digital agency for Brand Collective’s extensive apparel and footwear portfolio following a four-way pitch. The win will see the agency work on Brand Collective’s 16-plus apparel and footwear labels including Reebok, Hush Puppies, Review Australia, Shoes & Sox, Superdry and Volley. 

DDB Group Sydney has hired Adrian Jung for the newly created role of head of delivery. Jung has previously spent more than a decade at Leo Burnett, rising through the ranks to become national head of production. He is credited with transforming the agency’s delivery function to become integrated and contributed to a slew of award-winning campaigns including a Grand Prix for Innovation at Cannes.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) has hired Carousell’s Kevin Huang as chief operating officer, leading the advertising and marketing solutions unit within the organisation. As long-term Carousell employee since 2021, Huang most recently served as the Hong Kong managing director overseeing the development of business strategy, operations, marketing, branding and community engagement. Prior he was head of Birdie Mobile, Hong Kong’s first digital-only mobile operator.

VCCP Singapore has been selected by Hyundai to lead its social strategy, content and community management for Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS). As part of the partnership, VCCP will work to build awareness and engagement with HMGICS through its social platforms, and create momentum around Hyundai’s electric vehicles. Hyundai now joins brands such as Cathay Pacific, Deliveroo, SunLife and Toll, as VCCP’s social remit clients.

Media agency, Initiative, has appointed Tom Dodd as the National Strategy Director. In the new role, Dodd will be based in Melbourne and will work alongside chief strategy and product officer, Chris Colter to expand the agency’s strategic offering, product and new business growth. Mark Echo replaces Dodd at IAG. Echo has almost 15 years agency experience and most recently was a client partner at Meta.

Independent marketing and communications agency, Finn Partners has been reappointed by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants following a five-way agency pitch to deliver the global communications plan for this year’s awards ceremony, taking place in Valencia.

Australia’s Big4 Holiday Parks has named strategy studio, Untangld, and creative advertising agency, Pangea, as its nationwide partners. The leisure park network covers more than 180 locations across Australia.

Turno, a commercial electric vehicle (EV) marketplace in India has made key leadership appointments to further the company's reach in making EV adoption more reliable, affordable, faster, and sustainable.

• Anita Devraj Mookherjee, has been appointed as head of brand
• Varun Nair is the head of growth
• Kranthi C will head the business vertical

All new hires will be based in Bangalore, India. 

Audi Japan has appointed Geometry Ogilvy Japan (GOJ) as its new brand and creative agency of record. GOJ will partner with Audi Japan to modernise consumer engagement, further enhance brand image, and become the leader in premium e-mobility. GOJ is tasked to lead the development of Audi Japan’s local brand strategy, map the entire customer experience, and guide Audi across the intersections of brand and consumer engagement.

Caroline Slocombe has been appointed to lead The Coca-Cola Company business in Greater China for WPP. She will be responsible for overseeing the overall relationship with The Coca-Cola Company and its brands across all of WPP’s agencies in Greater China and operationalise the OpenX from WPP offering. Prior to that, she served as Red Fuse’s executive director in APAC where she was responsible for driving growth for a portfolio of over 10 brands across 15 markets.

Ebiquity has appointed llda Jamison as its managing director of its Australia and New Zealand business. She was most recently the managing director of ANZ at Quantcast.

Amplified Intelligence has opened a new office in Sydney, with Daniel Lyas, vice president of customer success as its first hire. The company already works with several clients in Sydney, including Foxtel Media, Meta, Omnicom Media Group, WPP, Publicis, and Dentsu. The new office will position the company close to its growing customer base of agencies, media owners and brands, allowing it to provide on-the-ground service and support.

One green bean (OGB) has made key appointments to strengthen its senior management team:

• Amber Abbott has been promoted to managing director from her role as general manager. Abbott assumes responsibility for the agency’s strategic direction and will report directly to global chairman Havas PR Global Collective, James Wright.
• Lauren Bailey has been promoted to the new role of managing partner and director of innovation. Bailey re-joined OGB as executive director early in 2022 from Westfield’s Scentre Group. Prior to that, she spent four years as business director at OGB.
• Laura Byrne is now the head of content who joined the agency in 2022 from creative agency Made in Katana.
• Hannah Stalder returns from maternity leave to resume her role championing the agency’s creative output as the new head of creative services.  

Clothing technology brand Comfiknit has appointed Walter Cheung Communications Ltd as its marketing and PR agency to help enhance its brand.

ANSR has appointed Kaizzen, a communications agency in India, as their communications partner. The mandate encompasses well-designed strategic communications support covering corporate reputation management, strengthening brand awareness, crisis management and support the organization’s expansion drive.

Black White Orange, a brand licensing a consulting agency, has been chosen as Netflix’s exclusive licensing and merchandising agent in India and South Asia. Under the agreement, Black White Orange will manage brand consulting and licensing for Netflix’s shows.Black White Orange will establish and develop Netflix’ consumer products business in India, as well as in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh & Nepal.

Blis has hired Scott Mathison as its new sales manager for QLD and WA in Australia. He joins from Southern Cross Austereo. Don Saw has also been promoted to country manager in New Zealand, leading the sales and operations effort across the country.  Both commercial roles will help the company meet increasing demand from advertisers in the regions. Joining from Gumtree, CarsGuide and Autotrader, Lupe Prada is the new head of marketing for APAC, based at Blis’ Sydney HQ. Additionally, Clarie O’Mahony joins Blis as new head of client services for APAC.

Ogilvy Indonesia has hired MullenLowe Lintas Group’s Satish Ramanathan as managing director. With over two decades of experience across India and Singapore, and most recently as MullenLowe’s executive director in Mumbai, Ramanathan will be responsible for steering the momentum of Ogilvy’s Digital Experience vertical in Indonesia.

Superapp Grab which operates in eight countries and 480 cities has promoted Philipp Kandal to the role of chief product officer effective February 1, 2023. Kandal joined the company in 2019 to lead the engineering and data science teams for Geo, the vertical that powers location-based intelligence and services. In the new role Kandal will oversee product, design and analytics teams and lead the product vision and strategy for Grab.

Kantar is strengthening its leadership in Singapore and Malaysia with two key appointments: Jane Ng and Paromeeta Mathur Banerjee are both appointed as general manager, Insights. Ng will lead the team in Singapore, while Banerjee will steer the Malaysia team. Ng brings over 18 years' experience in the insights industry in Kantar Singapore and the Philippines, as well as with brands like Coca-Cola Company. She will also develop brand, communication plans and strategic business plans for the company. Meanwhile, Banerjee will leverage her 20 years of experience in the insights industry across India and Malaysia. Prior to the new role, she was chief client officer for Kantar’s Insights division in Malaysia. 

Independent marketing agency Alpha Digital has appointed Al Jury as the CEO, returning to the agency after helping its launch in 2011. Jury’s most recent position was chief HR officer at University of Queensland for the past five years. Prior he was vice president in the U.K., USA and Norway at energy company Equinor. 

Guest experience and retention platform for hospitality businesses SevenRooms has hired Josh Todd as its chief marketing officer. Todd has jumped from wellness business Mindbody where he served as CMO from 2017 to 2022 helping grow the revenue by 117%. In the new role at SevenRooms, Todd will oversee planning, development and execution of the platform’s marketing efforts.