Move and win roundup: Week of January 4, 2021

Continuing a long-standing partnership, Singapore Management University (SMU) re-appointed Havas Group as its media agency of record with an integrated creative scope, following a pitch. The account was first won by Havas in 2016. The account is effective immediately, for a period of three years with an option to renew for an additional year

Mindshare appointed Maggie Tong to as managing director in its Hong Kong office. She fills the position left by Caroline Chan, who was made CEO of GroupM Hong Kong last year. Tong joins following nine years with Wunderman Thompson, where she was most recently a managing partner. Prior to that she was with Agenda for 8 years. She will report to Amrita Randhawa, Mindshare’s APAC CEO and Chan, and will be a part of the regional management team.

Independent media management consultancy Ebiquity appointed Stewart Li as managing director in China, where he will support recent growth and increasing demands of clients in the region, the company said. Li's extensive career history in the region includes experience in media management, martech and adtech, and he has held management positions at DeepZero iPinYou, Dentsu Digital, GroupM China, Zenith Shanghai, and Carat Hong Kong. 

Singapore digital content producer SGAG has entered into a partnership with ecommerce platform Lazada to provide weekly 'shoppertainment' experiences for consumers in Singapore across 12 weeks. The partnership combines retail and entertainment, enabling SGAG to drive the content-to-commerce strategy at scale, according to the company. This is the first time SGAG has entered a livestream ecommerce partnership for three months, beyond a singular campaign, and the first for Lazada with a digital publisher on this scale, SGAG said. The weekly 'KTHXBUY' episodes will feature distinctive, curated personas and charactersand will be hosted by SGAG cast members Maddy and Zina.

Jardine Restaurant Group (JRG) appointed FleishmanHillard as its corporate communications agency in Hong Kong and Macau. JRG has over 875 outlets and more than 27,000 employees across Hong Kong, Macau, Myanmar, Taiwan and Vietnam. In Hong Kong and Macau, JRG operates the Pizza Hut, PHD and KFC brands. FleishmanHillard will represent JRG in media relations and corporate communications matters.

French pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi selected Omnicom Media Group as its global media agency outside the US following a six-month review process, sources have told Campaign. The agency group will handle international media buying and planning across Sanofi’s consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical brands via a dedicated Team Sanofi @ Omnicom unit. OMG beat global incumbent Mindshare and IPG Mediabrands. Havas, the incumbent on the North America account, also participated in the pitch. It is not known whether Sanofi has appointed a US media agency. Campaign first reported on the media review in June.

Initiative has appointed Karen Ho, previously chief growth officer at Wavemaker China, as China CEO. She will report to Chris Chen, CEO of Mediabrands China, as well as Initiative's regional management. (Full story)

Following a multi-agency pitch, appliance maker SK Magic appointed Ogilvy Malaysia as its communications partner for a period of one year. The agency will provide strategic and creative communications, public relations and influencer management, as well as digital and social media services.

Dentsu Malaysia appointed Dheeraj Raina as media CEO. He joins from GroupM, where he was managing director of Mindshare and an executive committee member. Prior to that, he was MD of ADA, running country business for Malaysia and other emerging markets. He has more than 16 years of experience with brands including Celcom, Friesland-Campina, Digi, Tesco, Sunway and Kimberly-Clark. 

Dentsu International APAC promoted Prerna Mehrotra to the role of CEO of media for APAC. (Full story) 

The Mango Agency Singapore announced a rebranding as Upcycle Communications. The agency aims to effect change for the better through transformational communications. Its suite of services includes media and influencer relations, social media management, copywriting and content, strategic partnerships, events and internal communications.

Publicis Groupe appointed Sony Nichani as CEO of Publicis Groupe Indonesia, reporting to Loris Nold, CEO for Publicis Groupe Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The appointment was effective January 1. Nichani, who joined Publicis Groupe in March 2020, previously served as MD in Indonesia. Prior to that she led FCB's Indonesia office, which followed a client-side tenure with the Tata group of companies as head of brand marketing for its entry into mobile services. Before that Nichani worked for Tata for several years as a strategic planner at FCB India.

McCann China has been appointed as the creative partner for Alibaba’s Olympics campaign, covering marketing, communications and creative services for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. (Full story)

Wunderman Thompson Singapore announced the departure of chief client and growth officer Sharon Fernandes. She joined WPP in 2014 as managing director of HeathWallace Hong Kong and later became general manager of Mirum Singapore. She took on her most recent role in 2019 with the merger of JWT and Wunderman. Fernandes said she will be returning to her "digital consulting and business transformation roots" after a short break to spend time with family. Mel Edwards, global CEO of Wunderman Thompson, thanked Fernandes for her commitment and said she played a key role in the integration of Wunderman, JWT and Mirum Singapore.

Mediacorp named Angeline Poh, its chief corporate development officer, chief customer officer in a concurrent appointment effective January 1. The chief customer officer role, which oversees Mediacorp’s customer engagement and programming across its multiple platforms, including English, Chinese, Malay and Indian audiences, was formerly helmed by Irene Lim, who left the organisation in June. Poh will also continue to oversee the Singapore Media Academy (SMA). Before joining Mediacorp, Poh was the assistant CEO (Industry Development Group) at the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). She has also worked at McGraw-Hill Education and the Singapore Economic Development Board.