Singapore – After a year of building up its creative and strategic firepower in Asia-Pacific, Edelman is dialing up its focus on the future of communications with the newest hires to boost its creative work and position in the region.
The new hires are Tim Green as the new chief creative officer for APAC, Huw Gildon as the new chief strategy officer for APAC, and Wendy Chan as chief creative officer for China.
Green comes from creative agency Leo Burnett as creative lead, and is now responsible for injecting creative thinking into every practice and sector, across every communications brief.
“There has never been a more relevant time for businesses to embrace creativity as a more effective way of solving business challenges. By integrating creative thinking into Edelman’s offerings, and letting PR and digital practices bring the creative idea to life, we’re enabling our clients to stand out as distinct and truly relevant to their audiences,” Green said, regarding his appointment.
Meanwhile, Gildon, who previously worked with Leo Burnett and Ogilvy, will partner with Green and the firm’s digital and data capabilities to drive the ideation and execution of integrated work for the firm’s earned communications solutions, alongside Phyllis Yip who joined the agency as head of strategy for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand from Walmart China in March. Nisha Sivanandan, head of strategy at Edelman Singapore, will also be part of the said team to bolster the agency’s work.
Regarding his appointment, Gildon said, “The brand is one of the most important and powerful ideas in the history of business. The strongest are both trusted and talked about. Given Edelman’s strong heritage in studying trust, I’m really looking forward to working with their incredible portfolio of clients to help them grow and strengthen their brands with the power of creativity and innovation.”
Lastly, Chan comes from McCann Health in China, and accompanies Pully Chau, who was recently appointed as the new president for Greater China at Edelman.
For Michelle Hutton, vice chair for APAC at Edelman part of the new stride of hires in the region responds to the growing need of integration of creative and strategy skill sets into its product mix of corporate, public and brand solutions. This, in turn, will enable the firm to make pioneering moves in tackling the unique challenges faced by today’s marketers.
She added that as brands are increasingly expected to take a stand on societal issues and serve as agents of change in their consumers’ lives, earned media has become the new battleground for building trust.
“By bringing creativity and strategy to the table in addressing our clients’ challenges, independent of structures and siloes, our teams are able to unlock even more powerful ideas and experiences for positioning our clients at the heart of culture and what’s taking place in the world at the moment. This ultimately enhances the effectiveness of earned elements in our traditional solutions,” Hutton concluded.
