Move and win roundup: Week of September 6, 2021

Australian fashion distributor True Alliance appointed L&A Social to manage social strategy across its portfolio of brands, following a pitch. The client's brands include Ben Sherman, Lacoste, Lee, Nautica, Riders, Rockport, Speedo, Teva, The North Face, UGG and Wrangler. The partnership marks the first time True Alliance has aligned all its brands with a single social-media agency. In addition to managing social-media strategy for existing brands, L&A will also launch new brands into the Australian market and focus on driving shoppable customer engagement.

Think HQ appointed Matt Thomas as group head of integrated communications and Lani Cush as head of research and strategy. Cush was previously head of strategy at Hardhat and has 16 years of experience in creative, media and digital agencies, including Carat and Publicis, as well as client-side experience as head of marketing at a global business school.Thomas will lead the integrated communications group, and CultureVerse, the agency’s CALD engagement and localisation specialists. He joins from Icon Agency, where he was most recently director of PR and content.

After a seven-agency pitch, XL Axiata appointed Idenya Flux as the digital agency for XL Prepaid for a term of one year. The agency has previously worked with the client on social-media maintenance and several digital campaigns.

In Australia, Movable Ink hired Andrew McGhie as client experience manager and Daniel Daly and Esti Frischling as strategic account directors. McGhie joins from News Corp Australia, where he led marketing operations and capability functions. Daly previously served as sales lead at Liferay where he was responsible for driving new business growth across Australia and New Zealand. Frischling joins from NewsCred, a US-based marketing orchestration software company, where she was regional manager for APAC.

Adtech firm Xandr has appointed its first managing directors in Japan and ANZ. Masatsune Shironishi joins as Japan MD from Amobee Japan where he was country manager. Shironishi has also worked at Open Table, Elsevier and Microsoft in various senior sales and product roles. His appointment is effective immediately. Nicole Prior becomes MD of Australia and New Zealand, effective November 1. Prior is the former chief media partnerships officer at IPG Mediabrands’ UM and brings extensive agency and broadcaster experience across MediaCom, Finecast, Ikon Communications, Network 10 and Seven Network. Both MDs will report to Xandr head of global regions Jerome Underhill.

Australian independent communications agency Bastion has appointed Jacqueline Archer as CEO of its film and video production arm, Bastion Films. Archer brings wide production experience gained over more than 25 years in roles across agencies, network television, production management, product design, post production, branding, VFX and animation. She joins Bastion from Wunderman Thompson Australia where she spent three years as national head of broadcast and content. She has also worked as an EP at the Nine Network, Mighty Nice and M&C Saatchi’s former specialist retail arm 1440, and as creative services supervisor at SBS Australia.

Now We Collide has been appointed to create the new brand strategy for Melbourne-based supply chain consultancy TMX. As the company plots its expansion across APAC, Now We Collide has been tasked with developing a universal visual identity that would translate across multiple languages and markets. The new integrated brand campaign encompasses digital and social media strategy in addition to a full suite of creative for both organic and paid media. Founded in 2010, TMX works with major consumer brands including Uniqlo, Australia Post, BMW, L’Oreal, Kmart, Asahi, and Coles to create end-to-end digital and supply chain solutions.

Ecommerce website Little Birdie has appointed ex-Uber marketer David Jennings as its CMO and  Kogan.com’s former deputy CFO Joanne Smith as its CFO. Jennings joins Little Birdie with over a decade of experience working for major consumer packaged goods and technology companies, including Mondelez International and Durex. His most recent role as head of global rider product marketing for Uber at its San Francisco headquarters saw Jennings build and grow adoption of a portfolio including UberX, Uber Pool, Uber Vaccine, and Uber Rent. He will help to scale Little Birdie from its startup phase. Smith brings experience across ecommerce and technology businesses in the UK and Australia. She helped take Kogan.com through its 2016 IPO and also worked in KPMG’s deal advisory team, advising clients on mergers and acquisitions and corporate transformations. Before joining Little Birdie, Smith was CFO of private equity-backed Compass Education. Little Birdie launched in August as a discovery platform for online shopping in Australia. 

Brian Ng has been promoted to chief experience officer of Publicis Communications China, while retaining his role as chief strategy officer of Digitas and Sapient China. Ng will be responsible for driving the digital strategy offering and digital marketing for creative agencies under Publicis Groupe, designing integrated client’s customer experience across touch points and digital-first marketing techniques in several aspects, including digital ecosystem planning, CRM, digital transformation, and social media. Ng joined Publicis Groupe China in 2016 and has been leading the Groupe’s strategy team. 

GroupM Australia and New Zealand has hired former OMD COO Nathan Young as its chief growth officer. He starts in the fourth quarter of the year. This move will see Young reconnect with fellow OMD alum and new GroupM CEO Aimee Buchanan, who was only appointed to her role in July this year, replacing Mark Lollback. Young's appointment adds to the changes at WPP's media arm, following the short stint for Willie Pang as managing director of GroupM Services, even as Sebastian Rennie was returned from Canada to take up the role of chief investment officer for GroupM ANZ.    

Impact, the partnership management platform, has made four new hires to its growing APAC team: 

• Helena Barroso Zarco has been appointed as customer success director responsible for customer growth and retention across APAC. She was most recently regional lead for Acceleration Partners in APAC.
• Alex Randall joins as an enterprise account executive from Rakuten Advertising Australia.
• Georgia Boward joins as enterprise account executive.
• Catheline Lin joins as an enterprise account executive and was last with Ziff Davis.  

MyDeal.com.au and 72andSunny have entered into a creative partnership following a competitive pitch run by TrinityP3. The collaboration includes a brand platform, brand design system, launch campaign and ongoing social and digital content.

Agnes Media has been appointed by HR fintech startup Paytime to manage performance media and digital marketing to help increase their market share as an earned wage access provider. The agency is tasked with building build Paytime's brand and drive engagement across digital channels.

Publicis Media Exchange China (PMX) promoted Benny Xu to chief operating officer. Xu has worked with PMX for over 20 years and was last general manager of content marketing and managing director of media buying. In his new position, he will oversee all media business operations across Publicis Groupe China. Based in Shanghai, Xu will report to Dylan He, CEO of Publicis Media Exchange China. The position of COO PMX China has been vacant since Wee Ching Ian was promoted to CEO of Starcom China.

Dentsu International appointed Rohit Suri to the role of chief HR officer, South Asia, effective September 15. Based in Mumbai, Suri will build a team in India and Sri Lanka. He will report to Ashish Bhasin, CEO of Dentsu Asia Pacific and chairman of Dentsu India, and Kinch Ong, regional HR director. Most recently, Suri was chief talent officer at GroupM South Asia, leading human resources and talent operations in the region. 

FCB Group India promoted Vidyadhar Wabgaonkar to CEO of FCB Cogito, the independent consulting arm of the group in India. The Group recently also announced restructuring of operations in a three-agency structure of FCB Ulka, FCB Interface and FCB India. 

Aqilliz appointed Rajeev Dhal as chief business officer, effective September 1. In his capacity, Dhal will be responsible for Aqilliz’s go-to-market initiatives, including product refinement, pricing strategies, and sales optimisation, as well as customer satisfaction globally. Prior to Aqilliz he was Zee5's chief revenue officer.  

Angela Yuan was named head of CRM and loyalty for Ogilvy China. Based in Shanghai, she will lead and enhance Ogilvy Experience’s CRM, loyalty, customer-lifecycle-management and private-domain offering in Shanghai whilst spearheading strategies to grow new business opportunities across all China offices.

M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment added Whoop to its client portfolio, as the US tech and innovation brand officially launches in the Australian market. The agency will focus on PR, influencer marketing and strategic partnership consultation. 

Media strategy specialist Slingshot won the media strategy, planning and buying account for Four Pillars Gin following a competitive pitch. The appointment is with immediate effect.

Cameo, the marketplace connecting talent to their fans, has selected Archetype as its communications agency in Australia. The agency will manage a communications program spanning media, PR and content. In addition, the agency has also restructured its management team to help drive its 'vision 2025'. Joining MD Karen Coleman, strategy director Bec Madden and creative director Lee Devine, Alice Smith has been promoted to senior account director, Aranya Phookan has stepped up as senior account director and Ben Amdur has stepped up to senior creative. 

Following a competitive pitch against two agencies, Cancer Council has appointed Archibald Williams to undertake its national campaigns for Australia’s cancer charity. The agency will develop and execute an overarching brand campaign to raise the profile of cancer in the community as a critical issue that needs addressing, and position Cancer Council as an essential partner to the Australian community. 

True Aussie Beef & Lamb, a subsidiary of Meat & Livestock Australia, has appointed Singapore-based marketing agency Food News as its creative lead agency for Southeast Asia. Food News won the one-year appointment after a two-stage selection process in June, which saw multiple agencies vying for the account. As part of its appointment, Food News will deliver creative campaigns aimed at strengthening True Aussie Beef & Lamb's presence across trade and consumer channels in six key markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia. The agency is responsible for driving the brand’s social-digital, retail and food services campaigns, from creative ideation to strategic planning and execution.