Move and win roundup: Week of May 23, 2022

Bonsey Jaden has promoted Francois Filamor to group general manager. During Filamor’s three years as the general manager of Bonsey Jaden Philippines, the company’s Philippine post provided a range of digital marketing and advertising services to companies, both local and multinational. Overall, his 15 years in the industry has seen him work on major tech and finance brands such as Galderma, BPI, and Grab, plus a Cannes Chimera award under his belt.

SO Sofitel Hua Hin has appointed Redhill as as their lead public relations agency in Singapore.

Go Communications (GO) has been appointed by AppZaloot, a platform for community interactions, to manage PR, digital and influencer engagements, ahead of its official launch in the second half of 2022.

Agnes Media has been appointed by ZeeFi, an Australia-based ‘buy now pay later’ finance solution designed specifically for the education sector. ZeeFi, which was recently rebranded from Study Loans, is a fintech partner for the education sector. They help education providers grow enrolments and increase cashflow through a suite of finance solutions and payment plan administrative services.

Mediabrands has appointed Raymond Dizon to the newly created position of chief integration officer, Mediabrands Philippines. With 14 years of digital and media experience, the last six of which across Mediabrands agencies UM and Reprise, Dizon was previously managing director, Reprise Philippines and head of Digital Mediabrands Philippines. In his new role, Dizon will lead strategic partnerships, direction and digital product development and integration across the Mediabrands network of agencies including UM, Initiative, and Reprise in addition to strategic business units such as Mediabrands Content Studio, Magna and Orion. He will also retain his strategic leadership oversight of Reprise Philippines.

APRW, a Singapore-based communications agency, has partnered with India-headquartered PRHUB, an integrated communications agency, to launch a specialised communications practice targeted at start-ups looking to expand within and beyond the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The new practice is established under US-headquartered IPREX, the international communications network. It will be led by Anu Gupta, director of APRW and Xavier Prabhu, regional president for APAC, IPREX and founder and managing director of PRHUB.  

Rice has added five new partners to its business. The long-term senior employees join Sonya Madeira, founder, and James Brasher, managing partner, as owners of the firm. The new partners are Neil Mirano (director, client services), Donna Garcia (director and general manager, Myanmar), Mayda Jutahkiti (general manager, Singapore), Agung S. Ongko (director, strategy and insights), Chai Zixin (director, growth).

Dorchester Collection has promoted Philip Morris to the position of vice president, commercial, effective immediately. Morris joined Dorchester Collection as corporate director of revenue management in 2013 where he was responsible for aligning brand revenue and online strategy. Four years later, he was promoted to global commercial director, with added responsibility for contact centres, digital transformation, and email marketing.

Acoustic, a marketing cloud provider, has appointed Michaela Aguilar to join the team as head of business partnership ecosystem. In her new role, Aguilar will be responsible for business development and expansion, working with partners and the Acoustic team to create new revenue opportunities in the Asia Pacific and Japan region. She will also support partners as they work on customers’ long-term needs, from implementation to enablement and expansion, with the goal of helping customers maximise their martech investments. She joins Acoustic from Havas where she was head of customer experience and analytics, where she helped to integrate contemporary digital skills and processes within its media agency. 

Amplify has added Canva, PlayStation and Levi’s to its client roster and announced a string of senior promotions. Tim Baggott becomes executive creative director after three years as creative director. Karina Munoz has been promoted to head of clients, following two and a half years as business director, and Claire Hewitt steps up to executive producer from the senior producer role she held for three-and-a-half years.

Publicis Groupe has appointed Mikaël Henry as managing director of Publicis Luxe, Publicis Groupe North Asia. He will develop solutions and capabilities for luxury clients across the North Asia market and directly manage the Publicis Luxe team in China. Based in Shanghai, Henry has 26 years of leadership experience in the beauty and personal care industry with L’Oréal in multiple markets, including Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Before joining Publicis Groupe, he was zone general manager APAC for L’Oréal Professional Products Division.

Vertiv, a digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, has named Rainer Stiller the company’s new chief marketing officer. Stiller will lead Vertiv’s global marketing organisation. He joined Vertiv in 2017 as VP of marketing for EMEA, and was later promoted to VP, global channel marketing. 

Outbrain has appointed Benjamin Steel as general manager for Southeast Asia. Steel will be based in Singapore and is responsible for developing the regional business strategy and digital growth, leading the business team and delivering revenue growth from both publisher and advertiser sales. This role reports to Andrew Burke, managing director for APAC & growth markets (India, China and Brazil). Stiller joins from Bench, where he was head of business development for APAC and prior to that, he held senior sales manager roles at eGentic and AB Tasty.

Snack Drawer, a creative agency, has been appointed by Netflix ANZ to manage its editorial content and social media. Snack Drawer will be responsible for Netflix ANZ’s social account to drive conversation across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and podcast channels.

Havas Media Group Singapore has elevated Russell Lai to chief commercial officer, reporting to Jacqui Lim, who recently expanded her role as CEO of Havas Media Group SG to take on an additional title as chief growth officer of SEA & North Asia of Havas Group. In his new role, Lai will be overseeing the media offerings and commercial priorities of the group, covering two agency brands: Havas Media and Arena Media.  

James Tyrrell, global chair of Apco Worldwide’s health practice, has joined the agency's Singapore-based regional leadership team. He will oversee the healthcare practices in the region for Apco and continue to lead the global health division. Tyrrell has spent the past five years at Apco's London office, most recently as a senior director and chair of APCO’s UK Health practice. 

Yellow.ai has appointed Surbhi Agarwal as its senior vice president (SVP) of global marketing. Agarwal joins Yellow.ai from Google Cloud, where she led product and solution marketing for data analytics and Cloud AI portfolio.

NBA Asia head of global content and media distribution Ramez Sheikh will replace Scott Levy, who will step down as executive vice president & managing director of NBA Asia at the end of June 2022. Levy, who has overseen the NBA’s operations in the Asia-Pacific region since 2009, is leaving his position as he and his family plan to spend more time in their native United States. Sheikh will now report to NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum. 

Ampverse, a gaming company, has made a series of top management hires:

• Tine Hansen, head of commercial partnerships, who has worked across Europe, the US, Latin America, and APAC, holding director-level positions at the likes of Sony Pictures and NBC Universal.
• Thomas Jouanno, head of marketing & D2C, who was previously served as president & CMO for Atmosol.
• Robert Gaxiola, head of creative, who joins from Something Else, the digital content and NFT studio for the publishers of Vogue, Esquire and Robb Report.
• Jenny Hall was promoted to head of strategic partnerships.

Design business Re, part of the M&C Saatchi Group, has expanded its Australian presence by unveiling a new office in Melbourne, with a team of five led by creative director Shannon Bell. Re has offices in Sydney, London, Shanghai and New York. Bell relocated from Sydney to focus on the development and growth of the new office.

LingoAce, a Singapore-headquartered education technology company, has appointed Jeremy Lin, Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player, and founder of the Jeremy Lin Foundation, as the company’s first-ever global brandambassador. As part of this ambassadorship, Lin will collaborate with LingoAce to promote language-learning and cross-cultural understanding through education technology. 

Essence has been awarded digital media duties by automotive manufacturing company Chang’an Ford in China. Led from Essence’s Shanghai office, the agency’s remit includes media planning, media activation and content innovation for digital brand and performance marketing activities across Chang’an Ford’s automobile business, covering all its vehicles and dealers in the market. Chang’an Ford was jointly established by Ford Motor Company and Chang’an Automobile in China in 2001.

Gudangada, a B2B e-commerce platform from Indonesia, has appointed Yuanita Agata as its SVP of brand and commerce solution and Neni Veronica Sukirman as SVP of financial services and revenue management. Agata brings in more than 13 years of experience in the startups and consumer tech industry including time at Gojek, Tencent, and Samsung. Meanwhile, Sukirman brings over 15 years of experience in the financial and startups industry and has worked for Gojek, UOB Bank, and HSBC.

Sandpiper has apppointed Jasmine Hogg as general manager for Australia. Hogg brings more than 20 years of experience and prior to joining Sandpiper, she was director and head of reputation risk for Apollo Communications. She will lead a team of consultants in Sydney and Melbourne, and collaborate closely with Sandpiper’s New Zealand team led by Edward Brewster. In addition to leading the Sandpiper business in Australia, Hogg will helm the firm’s insurance practice across APAC.