Move and win roundup: Week of July 15, 2024

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover July 15 through July 19, 2024.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

DDB Sydney has announced that its executive creative director Matt Chandler will take over as chief creative officer effective immediately, replacing Stephen de Wolf. De Wolf is set to depart DDB Group Australia after nearly three years as national chief creative officer, having taken the reins in October 2021 following Ben Welsh's departure. Chandler's promotion completes DDB Sydney’s refreshed leadership team, which includes new chief strategy officer Rupert Price and group CEO Sheryl Marjoram. Chandler joined the agency in 2014 as a copywriter and has led globally recognised work for DDB Sydney’s long-term partners Westpac, McDonald’s, and Volkswagen. During his tenure, the agency has garnered multiple Agency of the Year titles and other awards, including Cannes Gold, Spikes Grand Prix, and a recent Silver Lion at Cannes for its 'Original Mouthful' campaign for Macca’s. Chandler has also served as the national head of AWARD School and is a Board member of the National AWARD Council. He was also a Campaign Asia-Pacific 40 Under 40 winner in 2022.

YDM Thailand Group of Companies has appointed Anuwat Nitipanont as chief creative officer, overseeing creative duties for FCB Bangkok and MullenLowe Bangkok. Nitipanont brings over 20 years of creative leadership to the role, where he will work across the creative department, social content, influencer marketing, and creative production. He joined YDM Thailand in July 2024 from VML, where he served as chief creative officer for Thailand. Prior to VML, Nitipanont served as CCO at BBDO Bangkok. In his early career, he started at BBDO and moved to OgilvyOne and McCann Worldgroup. FCB Bangkok and MullenLowe Bangkok have been a part of the YDM Thailand network since 2019 and 2020, respectively.  

MediaMonks, S4 Capital’s operating brand, has opened an office in Indonesia, adding a strategic location and local talent to its Asia Pacific business. The Indonesian office will service both local and regional client business. The first hires for the new office include business director Masayu Difa, who brings over 15 years of client leadership in Indonesia and experience across both local and international brands. She previously held senior client roles at Lion & Lion, Grey, McCann and Geometry. Read the full story here.

Assembly has appointed Jordan Heathfield as the agency’s vice president of connections and brand experience for the APAC region. In this newly established role, Heathfield will be instrumental in driving the integration of creative and strategic media solutions to deliver brand performance for clients. Heathfield is based in Singapore and will report to Assembly APAC CEO Richard Brosgill. Before joining Assembly, he was HP’s global brand marketing lead based in the US. Prior to that, he worked for agencies and brands in Shanghai and Hong Kong, such as Omnicom Media Group, GroupM, Citi Group, and Juwai.com.

Amy Bradshaw, head of Australia at VaynerMedia, has left after seven years. Bradshaw started as an account director in New York and London before moving to head of client partnership in the UK. She has been head of Australia since 2021. In a LinkedIn post, she wrote: “From New York, to London to Australia, it’s been a privilege to be a part of this special place and an honour over the past three years to build and establish our Australia presence and lead this incredible team.” Before VaynerMedia, she worked at Firstborn and Hill+Knowlton Strategies in New York.

M&C Saatchi Australia has appointed a new creative duo, copywriter Abby Clark and art director Laura Murphy. Both joined from Mediabrands’ Content Studio, where they worked for six months. Previously, they worked together at digital and tech-focused customer experience agency CX Lavender. The pair were recently runners-up in the Cannes Young Lions Digital competition in Australia. 

Society, a creative communications agency, has promoted Lucy Brewer to client lead and Meriel Killeen to manager. Brewer works across Blooms The Chemist, Unilever ANZ and Woolworths, and has risen quickly from consultant to client lead. Killeen has demonstrated continued creativity across clients such as Color Wow, Evo, Violet Crumble and Australian Education Union.

Havas Creative China has appointed Yinbo Ma as its new chief creative officer (CCO). In this role, Ma will lead the creative team and report directly to Ben Sun, the CEO of Havas Creative China. Sun, who was promoted to CEO last year, had previously held the dual role of CEO and CCO. Before joining Havas, Ma served as CCO at McCann Worldgroup China from 2021 to 2023. Born in Shanghai and raised in New York, he began his career at DMB&B New York, and later worked with Publicis New York and DDB New York. In 2007, he returned to China to serve as executive creative director at BBH China. Ma has won numerous awards in the industry, including Cannes Lions, D&AD, and One Show.

BBDO Guerrero has appointed Peach Natividad as its new chief strategy officer. With an impressive career spanning nearly two decades, Natividad spent the last five years at Google as country lead, creative for Philippines and Vietnam. Before Google, she worked for TBWA, McCann Worldgroup, Tribal DDB and Ogilvy. BBDO’s previous chief strategy officer, Gino Borromeo, joined the agency in 2023 and left earlier this year. 

DDB Sydney has appointed Jack Nunn as creative partner leading the McDonald’s account, effective immediately. Nunn rejoins DDB Sydney following a two-year stint in London at agencies Special London and Ogilvy UK. Before moving to London, he was creative director at DDB in Australia. In his new role, Nunn will be responsible for the creative direction of the McDonald’s account including full-service advertising across its brand, retail and sponsorship portfolios.

PHD’s marketing director Josh McDonnell will join Mindshare Australia as its new growth and marketing director. McDonnell has been working for almost three years at PHD as well as two years at OMG’s Foundation Australia. Before Omnicom, he was a journalist at Mi3 Australia and AdNews Australia.

Affinity, a full-service agency, has appointed Gavin Sommer as general manager. In this new role, Sommer will leverage his leadership and agency strategy knowledge to offer mentorship and bolster the team’s ongoing development. Before joining Affinity, he was senior digital marketing director, digital engagement lead principal at Accenture Song. Prior to that, Sommer served in several marketing and leadership roles at Clemenger BBDO, DDB Group Australia, Menulog, Spark44, and more.

Volkswagen (Anhui), Volkswagen Group's first joint venture in China focusing on new energy vehicles, has signed up Jung von Matt (JvM) China for its future co-marketing strategy, creativity and execution. The agreement comes as the carmaker works towards launching a new range of BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) and will work with JvM China to support its introduction to the Chinese market. 

Supergiant, a new immersive experience, content and entertainment studio based in Sydney, London and Singapore, was launched by ex-Imagination director Heath Campanaro, and Heckler co-founders Will Alexander and Jamie Watson, alongside ex-Imagination creative director Simon Connell. Supergiant brings design, VFX, entertainment, lighting, technology and music together to deliver projects and immersive experiences.

VML has appointed Richard Williams as the group executive creative director for its Melbourne and Sydney offices, joining the agency in September. His advertising career spans almost 25 years. He spent most of his professional life at Clemenger BBDO, where he was part of the leadership that steered the agency to awards success. Williams will lead a creative department of over 30 across Melbourne and Sydney, building upon the foundation established by Jake Barrow, who has been promoted to the role of chief creative officer at VML Czech Republic.

The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, has appointed Danny Pattison and Max Rapley to the role of associate creative directors, effective immediately. With over 10 years of advertising experience in London and Sydney, Pattison was senior art director at The Monkeys. He joined the agency from Karmarama in 2017. With ten years of experience working across creative projects between Sydney and Los Angeles, Rapley was senior copyeditor at The Monkeys. He joined the agency from The Glue Society in 2018.

UM has appointed Brittany Crowley as its new head of investment in Sydney, reporting directly to UM Sydney managing director Ben McCallum. Crowley will join UM in September and take up a position on UM’s national senior leadership team. Previously in senior investment roles at PHD and Mediacom, Crowley brings to UM nearly 20 years of experience in the media industry.

OMD Australia has promoted Amanda Watts to managing director of Sydney. Watts, with a 15-year OMD tenure beginning in Singapore, has spent the past seven years in leadership roles with OMD Sydney. She was promoted from head of Telstra to GM of Sydney in 2021 and joined the agency’s national executive team. Before OMD, she worked for OMG and UM.

Milk & Honey PR has appointed Richard Bagnall as group non-executive director, reporting to founder and group CEO Kirsty Leighton. Bagnall joins as board advisor alongside Claire Lematta who has been with the business since April 2023. He will advise in Singapore, the UK, the US, and Germany on up-leveling evaluation and data analytics best practices. Bagnall, formerly chair of AMEC, has recently stepped down as co-CEO of Carma, a position he had held since October 2018.

Madison Media Alpha, a unit of Madison World, has recently been appointed as the media agency of record for Pilgrim. The agency will be handling the entire media mandate for the brand. Established in 2019 by IITians Anurag Kedia and Gagandeep Makker, Pilgrim is a beauty and personal care brands across, haircare, skincare, makeup, and fragrances.  

Changi Airport Group has appointed PHD Singapore as its media agency of record from July 2024, for a period of two years, with the option to extend for another two years. The incumbent agency Havas Media has been serving the account since 2015 and was re-appointed in 2019 as its media agency of record, handling traditional media planning and buying while supporting digital media strategy.

B Ramanathan from Ogilvy Asia Pacific returns to Ogilvy India as chief client officer. Prior to rejoining Ogilvy India, his last role was as the chief marketing officer of Ogilvy Asia and the global brand leader for Mondelez based out of Kuala Lumpur. He had also been instrumental in driving the growth and transformation agenda for Ogilvy Indonesia as its group CEO.

Dentsu Media Aotearoa has appointed Sam Yap-Choong as general manager of data and analytics. Yap-Choong joins Dentsu Media Aotearoa from MBM, where he was also general manager of data and analytics. Prior to that, he was head of data and web development at Hype & Dexter, the global data & analytics manager for Zuru Group, and he also spent over a year as a solicitor at Minter Ellison.

It’s Friday has launched full-service media and appointed seasoned media and creative connections strategist Michelle Miroforidis to lead connections media strategy. The introduction of a specialist media division marks the next chapter in the independent agency’s growth two-and-a-half years post-launch. Before joining It’s Friday, Miroforidis was acting head of strategy at Havas Media Network Australia. Prior to that, she also worked for Dentsu, Airbnb, PHD, UM and Carat. 

Bench Media has announced two senior promotions off the back of recent new business wins, including Best Gift Group, Genea Fertility and FlexiRoam. Both promotions are effective immediately.

• Sebastian Diaz, previously senior digital solutions specialist, takes on the newly created role of head of media innovation. Diaz joined Bench Media in 2022. Before that, he worked at News Xtend.
• Nate Vella, previously senior digital strategist, has been elevated to brand strategy lead. She joined Bench Media in 2022. Prior to that, she worked for LifeSight and News Corp Australia.