Move and win roundup: Week of June 27, 2022

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover June 27 through July 1, 2022.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins

Edelman has confirmed that Stephen Kehoe, CEO of its APAC unit, is leaving the firm on July 31.  This was a personal decision driven by changing family circumstances, the agency stated.  Dave Samson, who is vice chairman of corporate affairs, will serve as interim CEO of Edelman APAC. Kehoe has been with the firm for nearly five years, starting as global practice head of corporate in the US in 2018. 

FMCG conglomerate, MasterKong Beverage, has today announced its retention of Mindshare China as its agency of record. The retention, which will see Mindshare China provide media planning and buying services for the beverages business, extends the agency’s eight-year old relationship with MasterKong.

PHD Malaysia has appointed David Soo as managing director. Soo replaces Kiron Kesav, who moved to OMG Malaysia as the chief strategy officer earlier this year. Soo was the managing director of Invictus Blue group previously. 

Performance marketing agency Jaywing and user-experience agency Frank Digital have appointed Rai Campbell in the newly created role of commercial director, to drive business across the recently integrated agencies. Campbell joins Jaywing and Frank Digital after more than five years as head of strategy at Yoghurt Digital. 

Integrated communications & PR strategic collective, Jajabor Brand Consultancy (JBC), has signed up Kapiva, a homegrown D2C Ayurveda brand. JBC was awarded the integrated mandate for corporate reputation management, brand visibility, and content strategy.  

Robert Magyar will lead Sandpiper Health in the newly created role of managing director. In addition to the new portfolio, Magyar continues to oversee the company’s China business as senior executive director and lead the brand’s regional public affairs offering. Magyar joined Sandpiper in 2021 following the company’s acquisition of North Head in China. He will work closely with Sarada Chellam, director, Sandpiper Health, and general manager of Sandpiper Singapore, in leading its specialist team of 30 consultants across its six offices.

Deveshi Chugh has been appointed as managing partner for Wavemaker Asia Pacific. In the new role, Chugh will continue to operate out of Singapore. She has previously worked with Group M for over four years, both in Mediacom and Maxus and has experience covering the India, Philippines, and Singapore markets. Her appointment comes close to the heels of other key hires in the company Shamsul (Shams) Islam (head of precision) and Smith Bhatt (head of ecommerce). All three will report to Rose Huskey, chief client officer, Wavemaker Asia Pacific.

Saskia Kendall has been appointed as the chief operating officer of Speyside Group’s Asia Pacific business. The appointment is aligned with Speyside’s continued fast growth of its fully integrated business in the region. Kendall will be based in Singapore and work closely with Ian Herbison, the group’s CEO to oversee the group’s network of Asia Pacific offices that drive policy, stakeholder engagement and communications activities.

Dr. Martens has picked internet-first creative agency Snack Drawer for the brand’s Pride Generations campaign. The partnership will see Snack Drawer’s original creator brand Rainbow History Class working together on a series of video and blog content for Dr. Martens Pride Generations campaign. In addition, Australian brand Rainbow History Class images and stickers will be featured in Dr. Martens stores around the globe.

Following a global pitch, L&A Social has extended its partnership with Henkell Freixenet–a sparkling wine producer–being appointed to produce digital content for its Henkell brand across international markets, in addition to being reappointed to manage all social media for Australia and Canada. L&A Social, which has worked with Henkell Freixenet on Henkell since 2013, will continue to handle social media management, content creation, campaigns, influencers and media in both Australia and Canada. In addition, the Sydney independent social media strategy and implementation agency has been appointed for content creation production across digital platforms in Henkell Freixenet global export markets.

Tourism Fiji has appointed Host/Havas (creative and CX/digital) and Havas Media (media) following a competitive pitch process. An integrated team will support the country’s post-pandemic recovery as a destination, and implementation of Tourism Fiji’s strategic plan. The scope of work includes evolving Tourism Fiji’s ‘Where Happiness Finds you’ brand platform, supporting its focus on sustainability, and leading on global media strategy and buying. The team will also help to build digital capabilities across the Tourism Fiji team and develop digital experiences across the visitor booking journey.

Cytel has appointed WE Red Bridge in China as its communications agency of record following a competitive pitch. Led by Martin Xu, director of technology, WE Red Bridge will support Cytel’s launch in China, handle stakeholder engagement and media relations activities, and bolster the company’s position as a statistical innovation leader in the biopharma clinical research sector through thought leadership and experiential programs. The agency will also support Cytel's initiatives in complex and adaptive designs, as well as expand its East and Solara platforms for clinical trial strategy and design.

Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K), has appointed Elain Yang as vice president of people and culture in China. Based in Shanghai, Yang will report to H+K China CEO Jun Xu. In this role, she will lead the firm’s human resources and corporate culture building in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Before joining H+K, Yang led human resources and administrative operations at TBWA. Prior to TBWA, Yang served as human resources director at Kantar Millward Brown, and human resources manager at AKQA.  

Shamsul (Shams) Islam is the new head of precision, Wavemaker Asia-Pacific and Smith Bhatt will be the new head of ecommerce. Both will continue to report to Rose Huskey, chief client officer, Wavemaker Asia-Pacific. In his new role Islam will be chief advocate in performance media, analytics, data & technology. Previously Shams was performance director at Wavemaker Asia-Pacific, overseeing digital excellence across regional clients and local markets, and leading the development of the agency's regional digital centre of excellence. Smith was previously regional digital & ecommerce lead for clients across Southeast Asia.

Bastion Amplify is expanding its social media offering with the hire of three industry specialists: Nicola Swankie, Katy Andrews and Nel Wolf. Swankie has been appointed group business director, social. She will will manage a team of social experts while providing ongoing strategic direction for the business and covering general manager of Social, Shirley Tat’s role while on maternity leave. Andrews joins the team as business director, social and will spearhead Amplify’s activity across Microsoft and Xbox. Meanwhile Wolf joins the team as senior account director, social overseeing Amplify’s work for Xbox.

Think HQ, an integrated communications agency, has appointed multicultural communications practitioner and qualitative researcher Som Sengmany as multicultural insights director. Sengmany will develop culturally appropriate communication and engagement strategies and research approaches. He will also work with the broader Think HQ team to develop inclusive communications strategies and research approaches for clients, and inject culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) audience perspectives into campaigns and projects. Sengmany most recently worked as strategic communications and engagement adviser to Whitehorse City Council.

B2B agency Just Global has hired Steven Power joins as strategy director, APJC. Based out of Melbourne, Australia, Power will be working closely with the regional leadership team, Felippe Diaz, general manager, APJC and Brad Harris, managing director, APJC. He steps into this role backed by nearly three decades of industry experience primarily in the B2B space across Australia, Southeast Asia, Northern Asia and Greater China. 

Chandu Rajapreyar has been appointed as ECD at Leo Burnett, Vietnam. He was previously VP and ECD at MullenLowe's Sri Lanka office. 

SGA Growth Advisors has won the PR and social media mandate for Renee Cosmetics, a cosmetics brand curated especially for the Indian women. SGA will strengthen Renee's public relations through strategic communications along with boosting its digital footprint on networking platforms like LinkedIn. 

Baskin Robbins India has signed on Glad U Came as its PR agency for a new product launch. As part of the mandate, Glad U Came will be responsible for creating and implementing PR and influencer marketing strategies for the brand’s campaign for its new range.

Sadhan Mishra has been promoted to CEO of OMD Singapore following 11 years at the agency. Mishra began his career at OMD as a senior manager in Singapore, and clocked in time in Jakarta and Shanghai before returning to Singapore. In his new role, Mishra will work with Charlotte Lee, CEO of OMD APAC; Paul Shepherd, chief investment officer and president of Annalect, OMG APAC; and Bharat Khatri, chief digital officer, OMG APAC.

JCDecaux Transport has appointed Ray Lee as head of digital and programmatic. He will oversee the Hong Kong MTR digital vision sales team for the sales and marketing of MTR digital media networks and zones, including brand new programmatic digital buy in the market. He is also responsible for fostering client relationships and assisting the management in executing the company’s digital strategy. Prior to this, Lee held senior roles at Shimba Digital and Dow Jones. 

Digital entertainment and media platform Azerion JAPAC launches today (June 27) in Asia following its acquisition of creative solutions specialist Sublime and digital advertising company Inskin Media. Justin Lim, general manager of Sublime APAC, will lead the Asian commercial team at Azerion as Asia general manager. Azerion JAPAC will create partnerships with publishers, advertisers and audiences and will provide its clients with access to “scalable, high-yielding and impactful ads”.