Move and win roundup: Week of October 16, 2023

GroupM Nexus has elevated Deepika Nikhilender to chief solutions officer of APAC. In this role, she will lead the design and development of future-facing addressable media solutions to meet client challenges and anticipate future opportunities. Nikhilender became GroupM Nexus APAC in May as executive director, and has been working at Xaxis, part of Nexus, since 2018. She was previously the CEO of Xaxis APAC for the past year.

Starbucks has appointed Lisa Leung as director of Marketing and Brand Partnerships for APAC. She joined the brand in 2021 as partnership director. Leung started her career from Edelman and worked at Asia Miles and Cathay Pacific Airways before joining Starbucks, focusing on brand partnerships, digital experience, and digital transformation.

Ruder Finn Asia has been appointed as the new public relations agency of ESET APAC in Singapore and the APAC region. ESET is a global digital security company providing enterprises, SMBs and individual consumers with industry-leading security products and software in over 200 regions and territories. 

Viddsee has appointed Esther Yue as head of branded entertainment to drive strategic growth initiatives. Yue is a seasoned industry professional, bringing experience from her past leadership roles at Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO, Dentsu, Craft Worldwide WW and most recently at Distillery as the head of operations, Asia-Pacific.  

Wavemaker has appointed Vidyadhar Kale (VK) as executive director, Client Leadership, L’Oréal South Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa (SAPMENA). In his new role, VK will lead GroupM’s partnership with L'Oréal for the SAPMENA region, with a focus on solving their business challenges and generating growth. He is based in Singapore and reports to Sindhuja Rai, APAC CEO for Wavemaker. VK has over 20 years of experience with people, brands, connections and businesses. His previous stint was with Meta for over eight years where he set up and led Facebook's efforts to build the eco-system in India. Prior to joining Wavemaker, he was leading Meta’s global and regional relationships with key clients. He's also worked in various leadership roles in India and Singapore, predominantly at GroupM, with brands such as Vodafone, P&G, Nokia, Samsung, EDB Singapore, DBS Bank, Unilever, IBM and Coca-Cola.

Initiative Melbourne has promoted Megan Davey to the newly created role of general manager. Reporting directly to managing director Sarah James, Davey’s remit will be to work alongside James in driving Melbourne’s growth agenda as the agency continues to expand its market footprint. Davey's career spans over 18 years, with prior experiences as a client partner for Initiative, and account and business director roles at Starcom and Vizeum Melbourne respectively.

IPG Mediabrands has appointed Clay Gill as the newly created role of chief data and technology officer in Australia. Gill will also operate on the Mediabrands’ executive leadership team. His remit will include driving strategic growth and operational excellence across the group, ensuring IPG Mediabrands transforms into the most recognised digital and data-led agency group in Australia. His career at IPG began with the successful transition of Cadreon to Matterkind in early 2020 before he was promoted to CEO IPG Kinesso. Under his tenure, he also successfully grew Matterkind’s business year-on-year, achieving double digital growth. Before joining IPG, he worked for The Trade Desk and Mindshare. 

Omnicom has appointed Aditya Kanthy as CEO of the newly formed Omnicom Advertising Services group in India. Kanthy, currently CEO of DDB Mudra Group, began his career in Mudra in 2003 as a strategic planner. Read more details here. 

BBH India has won the creative mandate for UpGrad, an integrated learning skilling and workforce development company, for its upcoming brand campaign.The win comes after a multi-agency pitch to redefine brand repositioning via the creative campaign. 

Samsung Ads, the advertising division of Samsung Electronics, has expanded into Southeast Asia, operating in the following markets, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam under the helm of Alex Spurzem, as managing director, ANZ and SEA. Spurzem has been the general manager of Samsung Ads Australia and New Zealand since 2020.

George P. Johnson, an experience marketing agency,  has appointed Darren O’Meara as the growth and development director. O’Meara brings to the role integrated knowledge that spans experience in marketing, data & analytics, creative, and media, collaborating with some of the largest global brands, including Lenovo, Adobe, Cisco, and Coca-Cola.

Dept has appointed Sandra Masiliso as its first global diversity, equity and inclusion leader. In this role, Masiliso will work with regional people and culture leads to drive effective work and embed DE&I throughout the culture, values, and ways of working at Dept. She will report to Sarah Steele, global SVP, people & culture. Masiliso joins Dept from BBC, where she was the creative diversity lead for 50:50 the equality project and creative diversity partner. Previously, she was the equality, diversity, and inclusion Manager at Newton Europe.

Ruder Finn has retained a comprehensive integrated communication partnership with Minds. The two-year retainer relationship, with the option of renewal for an additional one year, will focus on amplifying Minds’ purpose within the community and strengthening the organisation’s leadership. The partnership will encompass both traditional public relations and digital marketing services.

The Robertson House by The Crest Collection has appointed Hashmeta as its social media retainer for a launch campaign through a closed pitch process. A Singapore-based digital and social media agency, Hashmeta will amplify the reach of both the new hotel establishment, The Robertson House and the restaurant, Entrepôt, by employing creative social media strategies and exciting campaigns to raise the bar of engagement with the various audience groups.

Ogilvy Singapore has secured Kellogg's Southeast Asia creative account after a competitive pitch. The partnership came into effect in July, the scope of work includes the creation of three films featuring Granola, Coco Galaxy, and Coco Fills—with the aim to build Kellogg’s master brand. Additionally, Ogilvy Singapore has crafted key visuals for each product, with adaptations for digital billboards, bus wraps, and in-store merchandising. The campaigns will run in Singapore and Thailand for Kellogg's Granola and Coco Galaxy and Indonesia for Kellogg's Coco Fills. 

Independent media agency, Atomic 212, has retained the BMW Australia media account and expanded its remit to include BMW New Zealand, following a competitive review,  effective from January 2024. Atomic 212 will handle media services for BMW, Mini, BMW Financial Services, BMW Aftersales and BMW Motorrad. The agency has been working for BMW Australia since 2020. 

Tim Hung, former Shangri-La Group assistant vice president for media and social, has parted ways to start his own social agency, Blossom Lane Communications. The agency will specialise in Red marketing for brands in Hong Kong and rest of Asia and offer services like strategy development, content creation, influencer marketing and paid advertising. Before Shangri-La, Hung worked for P&G for over a decade, and started where he started out as a financial analyst and climbed up the ranks to brand director and head of media in Hong Kong as well as Taiwan. 

Sportfive has appointed Venu Nair as president of its new global cricket division and managing director of South Asia and the Middle East. He will be based out of Sportfive’s newly opened Dubai office and report to Sportfive APAC president Seamus O'Brien. In his previous roles, Nair oversaw relationships with key industry sector clients, including sport governing bodies International Cricket Council (ICC), Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket South Africa (CSA), Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and numerous global brands and media groups together with many leading athletes. He led the brand advisory, golf and football businesses in the South Asia region.

Sefiani, part of Clarity Global, has been engaged by four organisations dedicated to driving positive change in sustainability and social impact: Volvo Group; Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) and its Mobile Muster program; the United Nations Global Compact Network Australia and Social Ventures Australia. 

DDB Group has appointed Vinod Savio as chief creative officer (CCO) in Singapore, effective 16 October. Savio returns to DDB following a previous eight-year tenure. In his new role as CCO, he will lead the development of next-generation creative skills, expand DDB's regional client base, and solidify Singapore's position as a hub for global clients. Before returning to the agency, Savio was executive creative director at Toaster. With nearly two decades in the industry, Savio's collaborations with esteemed clients such as Google, McDonald's, Unilever, and Johnson & Johnson have earned him prestigious industry awards, including Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, Effies, and Spikes Asia.  

NP Digital, a global performance marketing agency, has appointed Gary Cheung as general manager for Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Melissa Cheng as country manager for Malaysia. Cheung and Cheng will lead the expansion of NP Digital in their respective markets and will collaborate closely with the agency’s APAC team. Cheung brings more than 15 years of performance marketing agency experience in APAC's key growth sectors to NP Digital, with previous roles at Publicis Media, SearchGuru, and iProspect. Cheng brings extensive paid media expertise from her roles at ADA, AdColony, and Yahoo. Both Melissa and Gary will report to Dan Kalinski, managing director, APAC. 

Mel Kenneday has been appointed as the chief marketing officer at the gaming group, Entain, to succeed James Burnett, who departed in September. Burnett has been working as group CMO of AU/NZ since January 2019. Before joining Entain in October, Kenneday was the former global head of brand at Lorna Jane. Prior to that, she was CEO of Beforeyouspeak Coffee. She also worked at Hasbro for over five years, and at The Walt Disney Company for more than 11 years.