Move and win roundup: Week of November 18, 2019

Creative shop Tomorrow in Shanghai hired ex-Publicis Sapient senior creative director Daniel Tan as creative director. He has over 15 years of experience and has also worked at Ogilvy, DDB and BBDO and for clients including Google, Mercedes, Nestle, Nike, Samsung and Disney.

Publicis Communications India announced that Anil Nair has stepped down as CEO and managing partner of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi. He will remain as an advisor. Paritosh Srivastava, currently COO of Publicis Ambience and Publicis Beehive, will become MD of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi effective January 2. Nair was a co-founder of Law & Kenneth, and took over as CEO and managing partner of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi in 2014. He plans to devote time to his passion for biking. Srivastava, who has experience at Ogilvy, Rediffusion Y&R and Publicis Worldwide, joined Publicis Groupe in 2011. 

Havas Media Group has appointed Matt Houltham as CEO of Australia and New Zealand, effective January 2020. Houltham joined Havas in January 2016 and is currently group managing director of Havas Melbourne. Prior to Havas he was managing director at Naked Communications in both Melbourne and New York, and was a digital partner at Publicis agencies Zenith Optimedia and Mojo.

WE Communications wins Adobe’s Australia and New Zealand accounts following a pitch in October. The new remit will cover the entirety of Adobe’s business including corporate communications, media relations, events, product PR, and analyst relations. WE has partnered on Adobe’s social and influencer campaigns since 2017. Meanwhile Mike Wilson, who was the founding CEO of Havas Media from November 2013, will assume the newly-created role of chairman. In this capacity, he will maintain an involvement with key clients, explore targeted M&A opportunities, maintain and develop key partnerships and explore further integration opportunities with Vivendi group companies including Universal Music Group, Studio Canal, Gameloft and Daily Motion.

Jack Morton appointed Austin Powers as APAC lead for its innovation practice, Genuine X, and strategy director for the agency’s Singapore office. He will report to Charles Robinson, SVP and MD at Jack Morton Singapore and Damian Ferrar, global head of Genuine X. Powers was previously director of immersive and interactive for APAC at Freeman in Shanghai. He has worked with brands including Disney, Warner Bros, Ubisoft, Omega, Porsche, BMW and Microsoft.

Travel marketing firm Sojern has hired travel industry veteran Noreen Henry as chief revenue officer to oversee all global sales and account management teams. Henry brings more than two decades of travel experience to Sojern, most recently serving as CEO of WayBlazer, an artificial intelligence travel technology start up. She was also chief revenue officer at hospitality distribution company DHISCO, senior vice president at travel ecommerce site Travelocity Global, and vice president at Intent Media. Henry will be tasked with accelerating the growth of Sojern’s hotel marketing solutions globally and deepening relationships with enterprise travel customers. She will play a key role in expansion into growth areas like tourism and the attraction space.

Brand and retail consultancy Fitch has appointed Liz Krueger and Daniel Segal as strategy directors in its Hong Kong office. Krueger will further strengthen Fitch’s strategic capabilities with a focus on experience creation. Her experience spans Asia and across multiple sectors including finance, travel, tech and retail. As a user experience (UX) specialist, Segal will enhance user centric solutions in interaction design. With 18+ years of industry experience under his belt, Segal's experience spans across Asia, America, United Kingdom and the Middle East.

Influencer marketing company, The Social Club,  has added several key hires to its Auckland, New Zealand office including two newly created roles. Sally Dunn joins as account director following her client lead role at Little Giant, Linked by Isobar. Gyles Foster takes up the other newly created position of growth partnership manager, upskilling and educating the market and assisting with the rollout of new social solutions. He joins from Firefly Digital where he worked as a business development manager. Meanwhile, Charlotte Caines, a former account manager at Mango has also recently joined The Social Club as a campaign producer. The hires now bring the company’s headcount to 14. The business has also moved offices and currently shares space with Augusto at the City Works Depot in Auckland. 

Ogilvy appointed Shouvik Roy as president and head of office for Ogilvy Delhi. He has worked in brand consulting, design, marketing and advertising with companies including HCL, GE Capital, and DDB Mudra, and has also been a co-founder of two startups in the branding and communications space. He will join on December 5, reporting to Kunal Jeswani, CEO of Ogilvy India. He will be responsible for clients including Dabur, Pernod Ricard, KFC, BMW, Coca-Cola, Perfetti Van Melle, Uber, Eicher Motors, Mother Dairy, Philips, Voltas, Max New York Life and American Express.

Chris Elkin, former WPP group managing director, and Nhu Vo Elkin, former sales and marketing manager for Cathay Pacific Vietnam, have launched Doodle Brands, which they bill as one of the first companies in the country to focus on marrying brand innovation and design thinking (human-centred design). The company says it engages clients through interactive, visual, and hands-on workshops to frame and solve brand problems, with outcomes such as strategies, identity, customer experiences, customer interfaces, and other brand-interaction touchpoints and materials. Doodle Brands is a partner of LUMA Institute, a US-based leader in design thinking. 

BBC Studios Asia Pacific promoted Fiona Lang, currently chief operating officer for ANZ, to the new role of general manager for Australia & New Zealand, and promoted Ryan Shiotani, currently acting SVP of Branded Services for Asia, to SVP and general manager for South and Southeast Asia. Lang will lead the Sydney-based branded services (including marketing, advertising and creative), commercial and content sales teams. Shiotani, based in Singapore, will the branded services, marketing, creative, content and affiliate sales teams in Southeast Asia and India. Both roles report to Jon Penn, executive vice president of BBC Studios Asia Pacific, as part of the newly formed APAC regional business, incorporating Australia, New Zealand and Asia, which was announced in September.

Production company Sweetshop appointed Penny Woo as executive producer to work across China, Asia and the MENA region. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Woo haas over 19 years working experience in the advertising industry and has been a freelance producer for BBH Shanghai, TBWA Shanghai and Havas Worldwide Kuala Lumpur and brands such as Audi, Harbin, Google and Ikea.She has also worked with a wide range of production companies including Sweetshop, Godmother Productions and Passion Pictures in Shanghai and Axis Films in Kuala Lumpur.

China programmatic advertising platform iPinYou appointed Andy Ng, previously regional vice president at Appier, as managing director for APAC. He will focus on assisting APAC brands in entering China.