Move and win roundup: Week of December 2, 2024

Grey Hong Kong has promoted Rick Kwan to executive creative director. Kwan has been with Grey for over three years. He was creative partner at the agency before the promotion. Before joining Grey in 2021, Kwan worked at BCW APAC, Dentsu, and McCann Hong Kong.

Oliver Wilke is the founder and managing director at Artisan Media. Before this, he served as head of partnership and global sales at Move Ahead Media. He also worked at Adzymic, Eskimi, Ampverse in Bangkok. 

Meltwater, a media intelligence firm, announced two new customer wins in APAC. Ricoh, a Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company, and Hugosave, Singapore’s first personal wealth and savings app, have joined the company's client roster.

Wendy Walker, CMO and vice president of marketing for ASEAN at Salesforce, will assume the role of president for International Advertising Association (IAA) Singapore. She will be supported by IAA's vice president Ed Pank, who is also the MD of WARC in APAC and SVP Lions Division. The IAA, an association for the marketing and advertising industry, recently announced its expansion into Singapore.  

IPG Mediabrands has appointed Darren Yuen, former CEO of Initiative Malaysia, to CEO of IPG Mediabrands Malaysia, effective immediately. With 27 years of media experience, including eight years within the IPG Mediabrands Malaysia network, Yuen became Initiative Malaysia CEO in 2020. Yuen is based in Kuala Lumpur and will report to Leigh Terry, CEO of IPG Mediabrands APAC. Before joining Mediabrands, Yuen was CEO of Carat Malaysia. Yuen will succeed Bala Pomaleh, who joined from Carat in 2016 and will leave the agency.

StackAdapt, a leading multi-channel advertising platform, has appointed Alessandra Alessio as director of marketing for the APAC region. Based in Singapore, Alessio joins StackAdapt following a distinguished 16-year career at Google, covering B2B marketing and sales roles, with a focus on adtech, measurement, and data privacy solutions. Alessio has worked in APAC for twelve years and spent in the Australian market. In her most recent role, she served in the APAC Scaled Ads marketing team.

Analytic Partners, the global marketing measurement and optimisation organisation has expanded its team in APAC.

• Paul Sinkinson has been promoted to managing director, APAC. Sinkinson steps into this new role after almost a decade as Managing Director of Australia. As managing director of APAC, Sinkinson will focus on strengthening client relationships and scaling Analytic Partners’ solutions across key markets, including Singapore, Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea.
• Nikki Taylor has been appointed as director of marketing for the region. Before joining Analytic Partners, Taylor most recently served as marketing growth strategy director for UPS in the region.

Zendesk has appointed Mitch Young as senior vice president, Asia Pacific positions the company to accelerate growth in the region. Young has held roles in IBM and most recently, ServiceNow where he led the region for nearly six years before taking a sabbatical. He is based in Melbourne. Extensive experience in various regional roles has seen Young live in Singapore and Shanghai, while overseeing business growth in mature as well as emerging markets in Asia Pacific. 

Adobe has appointed Lara Balazs as chief marketing officer and executive vice president, global marketing, reporting directly to chair and CEO Shantanu Narayen. Balazs previously served as CMO and general manager, strategic partner group at financial software and services leader Intui. She will lead the global marketing organisation responsible for Adobe’s brand, Adobe.com. Throughout her career, she also worked for Amazon, Visa, Nike, and Gap.

Havas Health Network has launched Havas Life Bangkok to bring healthcare communications expertise to global clients in Thailand. The agency will be led by Apichaya Hiranphoonyaphreeda, who has assumed the role of business director. The agency has already secured clients including GSK and Sanofi and will help to drive their HCP engagement and disease awareness campaigns.

Innocean Australia has appointed Brendan Willenberg as executive creative director, joining from Cummins & Partners. Willenberg began his career as a copywriter at McCann, before moving to Clemenger where he spent more than a decade and progressed to the ECD title. He then moved to Archibald Williams as ECD and creative partner before joining Cummins & Partners. He has won a host of Cannes Lions, Effies, AWARD Awards, One Show, and Spikes.

Grab and Coca-Cola are advancing their strategic partnership in Southeast Asia to combine Coca-Cola's offline retail presence with Grab’s online network to create experiences for consumers. Coca-Cola will collaborate with Grab on various regional campaigns and initiatives that cover both online and offline channels, leveraging GrabAds’ comprehensive full-funnel retail media ecosystem. Coca-Cola will also tap into GrabAds' first-party transaction data for precise audience profiling tailored to its target segments and to employ the platform's innovative online-to-offline (O2O) ad formats for creative campaigns designed to boost engagement and sales. 

Global digital agency Dept has announced its new partnership with Shopify, a commerce platform. This new partnership will combine Dept's tech expertise with Shopify's essential internet infrastructure for commerce to offer its clients an integrated solution that leverages technology and AI to support their business growth.

FCB Aotearoa has appointed Amy Pollok and Matt Lee to its integrated strategy team. Pollok joins as group strategy director and Lee as strategy director for FCB/Six, the agency’s data, AI and creative technology arm. With over a decade of expertise in brand planning and effectiveness, Pollok joins from Colenso BBDO, where she worked across accounts like Skinny, Spark, AMI, State, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, and Mars. Lee steps into this role with a background in data, marketing technology and AI. Before FCB, Lee worked at Spark New Zealand, Data.com and The Warehouse Group.

Grey Goose, a spirit brand, has announced its inaugural partnership with the Australian Open as the tennis tournament’s official vodka partner in 2025 and beyond. In time for the Open, Grey Goose will debut the Grey Goose Lemon Ace, which has been named a signature serve of the Australian Open 2025. The partnership, and introduction of the Grey Goose Lemon Ace, builds on Grey Goose’s global tennis legacy following its longstanding collaboration with the US Open.

Bastion, an independent agency, has been appointed as the creative partner for Kellanova, taking over from Leo Burnett and VML to manage the creative work for Kellogg’s breakfast and wholesome snack brands in Australia. The appointment consolidates Kellanova’s creative partnerships as the company undergoes a period of transformation. The new remit is effective immediately, following Bastion’s recent project marking Kellogg Australia’s 100-year milestone. Thinkerbell will continue to handle creative for Kellanova’s salty snack brands, including Pringles, in the ANZ region.

Ebiquity China has appointed Rick Yan as senior client success partner. Yan brings 28 years of experience in advertising, media, and data technology in China. Most recently, he was chief client service officer at Gozen Technology, a data technology company specialising in OTT. Prior to that, he was managing director at Dentsu’s Amplifi China for eight years and has also held roles at GroupM, OMG, IPG, Leo Burnett, and TBWA. At Ebiquity, he will oversee sales strategy, business development, account management, and project management.

Guy Kellaway has been named head of marketing excellence for Nestlé’s zone AOA, after serving as communications director for Nestlé Indonesia. Kellaway has been with Nestlé since 1996, holding various roles in sales, marketing, and HR across Australasia, Europe, and Africa. He moved to Indonesia from Africa in 2018.

Orchard, a creative technology agency, has appointed Anne Ngo as head of customer growth and martech, a newly created role. Ngo has over 15 years of experience in customer growth, lifecycle marketing, and digital transformation. She joins Orchard from Akcelo, where she was customer strategy and martech director for nearly four years. Ngo has also held roles at FlexiGroup, Latitude Financial Services, and American Express. At Orchard, she will lead the martech offering across its consumer and healthcare divisions and focus on customer experience, data, and martech innovation.

Noah Marshall has joined Exit, along with producer, Luke Kneller. Marshall, who founded Australasian production house Larchmont in 2021 after years with Sweetshop, is reuniting with Wilf Sweetland at Exit. Marshall’s work has been recognised at industry awards such as D&AD, Cannes, One Show, CLIOs, AICP, and LIA. Kneller, an executive producer with over a decade of experience, joined Larchmont in 2023.

Publicis Groupe has appointed Kristine Ong as CEO of Publicis Media Malaysia, starting January 2, 2025. A 30-year veteran of Malaysia's media and business sectors, Ong most recently served as chief client officer at Mindshare Malaysia. Her experience also includes leadership roles at Astro Media Solutions, Initiative, and prominent agencies like Starcom Worldwide, Leo Burnett, and Ogilvy & Mather. Ong will report to Ian Loon, Publicis Groupe's chief transformation officer and CEO of media and digital in Singapore and SEA.

Publicis Sapient has appointed Angela Robinson as Australia country managing director, based in Melbourne. Robinson will oversee all aspects of the Australian business, focusing on growth and operations. She will also lead Publicis Sapient's Australian digital business transformation teams. A leader with over two decades of experience across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, Robinson joins from Deloitte, where she held senior partnership roles. She previously held a senior management position at Accenture.

​ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, has appointed Archetype, a global marketing communications agency, as its new public relations and marketing communications partner in the Asia Pacific region. Archetype will support ESET with strategic communications, including developing innovative integrated campaigns and activations. ESET inaugurated its new APAC Headquarters in Singapore earlier this year.