Tag: Advertising agency

Sydney, Australia – Digital media consultancy MightyHive and digital production company MediaMonks sees a new appointment for vice president and head of growth for ANZ as its mother company S4 Capital unveils Tom Braybrook to lead both roles.

Braybrook has previously worked with tech giant Google as head of agencies and partners in New Zealand, as well as with computer software company Adobe, where he served various roles such as APAC strategy and solutions lead and regional product manager for Adobe Analytics Cloud.

Speaking about his appointment he said, “As enterprises march forward with their digital transformation efforts, it’s no secret that the role of today’s marketer continues to broaden – whether it is making smarter use of data, rearchitecting the customer experience or finding new ways to tell brand stories in a digital world. 

He added, “In the midst of this evolution, MightyHive and MediaMonks represent an exciting new breed of marketing services partner who are not only enabling businesses to understand and adopt these technologies but are also supporting their transformation efforts in a much more agile and flexible way.”

Meanwhile, Kenny Griffiths, managing director for Asia Pacific at MightyHive, commented, “Tom’s extensive 15 years’ experience in digital marketing aligns perfectly to not only where we’re at as a business, but where we’re going. His experience from the Agency world, Adobe & most recently Google is unique as it hones in on our holy trinity – data, digital media and content- approach and will be critical in evolving how we go to market across the two countries.”

Tokyo, Japan – Global advertising agency R/GA in Tokyo has appointed Kei Shimada, former associate partner and founding member and leader of the Digital Makers Lab at IBM Tokyo, to be its new managing director, effective this month. The appointment aims to expand R/GA’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Shimada will now be responsible for leading the Tokyo office to drive innovation, human-centric work for the company’s local and international clients. He will be tapping into the agency’s deep creativity, tech, and design experience expertise, and will work closely with other regional leads in support of helping clients create a more human future. 

Prior to his new role, Shimada has had a long-standing career of helping companies around the globe. He specializes in redefining existing product and service strategies, and enhancing existing revenue streams, or creating new ones from the ground up. At Digital Makers Lab, IBM Japan’s business-to-business (B2B) workshop, Shimada led the digital transformation of clients and spearheaded the creation of world-first, region-first, and industry-first focused solutions, and business models.

Furthermore, Shimada has worked as the global director of innovation and business development at Dentsu, where he focused on the build-out of dentsu Aegis’, now called as denstu international’s, group wide innovation initiative that created new solutions around wearables, neural technology, locational big data, and crisis management infrastructures. He has also fulfilled the role of chief lab officer of dXLab, dentsu media’s innovation lab spanning eight countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Commenting on his appointment, Shimada said that he is excited to be given the opportunity to join R/GA and lead the Tokyo office. He believes that having such an eclectic mix of people working together serving local and global clients is something very unique in Japan, and one gives them a strong competitive advantage.

“I’m looking forward to further shaping and growing the Tokyo office as we deliver transformative solutions for clients that play at the intersection of bold ambition, creativity, and human truths,” commented Shimada.

Meanwhile, Tuomas Peltoniemi, the EVP and managing director of R/GA APAC, shared, “It’s exciting to have a respected, inventive, and influential leader like Kei onboard. With an ambition to leverage new technologies to help clients create new solutions for a more human future, coupled with an incredible track record of commercial and creative success, there’s no one else better to be at the helm of R/GA Tokyo.”

Shimada’s appointment completes the newly-formed Tokyo leadership team that is poised to work with Japanese and global brands, enabling growth both locally and internationally.

Singapore – Advertising agencyTBWA\ Singapore has announced that it is welcoming a new lineup of creative talents in the company to boost their creative discipline.

Loo Yong Ping joins the company as creative director, where he brings over 10 years of experience across multi-platform and integrated work and has won almost every creative award in the industry. Ping has worked with global agencies Ogilvy and Tribal DDB, media companies BBC and Fox International, and for brands which include HSBC, McDonald’s, Twitter, and SingTel.

Angie Featherstone, a copywriter, and Eirma Webster, an art director, join the company as creative directors. Featherstone and Webster bring diverse skills from global agencies BBH, Leo Burnett, and McCann Erickson, with work spanning across brands like IKEA, Mastercard, Axe, Levi’s, SK-II, and Vaseline.

Meanwhile, Fernanda Machado joins TBWA\ Singapore as senior creative. With 15 years of experience across South and North America in agencies Africa Brazil, David The Agency, and Leo Burnett Detroit, Fernanda brings copywriting, craft, and motion graphics across work that has been recognized at well-known award shows.

The expansion of the team will also see new art directors namely Chris Leow and Zachary Desker joining the company. Leow has a hybrid background in video editing and motion graphics, which has led to his work on a broad spectrum of integrated campaigns which include ‘JollieEverAfter’, ‘Virtual Sentosa’, and ‘Absolut It’s In Our Spirit’.

Lastly, Amanda Devarajan and Yashanti Yap are welcomed as new copywriters. Devarajan has built a portfolio of conceptual writing and highly impactful work across PR, integrated, and film spanning agencies, and has worked recently with Ogilvy Singapore. Meanwhile, Yap, who recently worked with BBH Singapore, brings into the company her copywriting and motion graphic skills which are evident across her work.

Speaking about the new hires, Andy Grant, ECD at TBWA\ Singapore said, “In true TBWA\ style we’ve found the most unique ‘Pirates’ out there. I’m thrilled to have this diverse and skilled talent on board who are all disrupting creativity in their own way. I’m looking forward to them helping us achieve our goal of creating world-class work for our incredible roster of clients.” 

In February, the agency also announced the elevation of its former managing partner Mandy Wong to take the helm as the new managing director. 

Singapore – Following a competitive pitch with multiple agencies across Europe and Asia, the Singapore arm of advertising company 72andSunny has been appointed by smartphone brand OPPO to be its global brand agency of record.

Through the project win, 72andSunny will partner with OPPO as it continues to grow and help build the brand in key markets around the world. 

OPPO has been rampant in its global expansion since 2004, which has now reached a global footprint encompassing 40 countries and regions across five continents.

“We’re excited to do great things with OPPO. Nothing energizes us more than partnering with ambitious brands to take that ambition even further,” said Ida Siow, president of 72andSunny Singapore.

Meanwhile, Derek Sun, global senior brand director at OPPO, said, “72andSunny impressed us with their strategic clarity, deep insight into culture and modern non-traditional thinking.” 

With Asia-Pacific operations situated in Singapore and Sydney, 72andSunny has also worked with brands such as capital market company GIC, loyalty program NTUC Link, e-commerce platform Lazada, and sports channel beIN Sports, among others.

Singapore – In a bid to push for more visibility of APAC brands and advertisers into the programmatic supply chain, media investment firm Group M has launched a project to optimize the supply path on digital advertising.

The project is the firm’s answer to advertisers’ growing concerns over transparency. It refers to a study by the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) which revealed that about 15% of the amount spent on advertising in the UK was unaccounted for, raising the industry’s question as to how revenue is earned. 

Over a period of six months, Group M gathered a significant amount of data into a single visualization tool which includes loading log level data from more than 400 demand side platform (DSP) seats.

Still in line with improving transparency, GroupM has also enlisted a set of guiding principles for all markets within the tool. The number of seller-side platform (SSP) included has been limited to those who:

  • agree to a code of conduct
  • only have direct integrations with publishers
  • never send inventory as unknown or obfuscated domains
  • Need to provide log-level campaign data to be matched against DSP data

Prathab Kunasakaran, head of the supply strategy for APAC at Xaxis said, “By bringing all of our global buyer accounts onto the supply path optimization dashboard, we gained a clear view of the good and bad actors in the buying process and identified valuable partners to move forward [with] careful due diligence.”

GroupM also aims to become 100 percent ads/apps.txt compliant and support Open Measurement SDK as well as VAST 4.1 and higher. 

In addition, it also eyes to fully comply with ads/apps.txt and support Open Measurement SDK. The firm also shared that it is working with SSP partners PubMatic, SpotX, and local publishers in the APAC region to integrate header bidding into their programmatic setup.

Hong Kong – With the new football season in Europe underway, Pizza Hut Hong Kong has collaborated with global advertising agency Ogilvy to deliver a limited foosball pizza box to customers, that can be availed through a game in social media.

The new limited edition item is part of the brand’s dedicated football campaign “12th Player Club.” It is specially designed with a fully playable foosball table integrated into the lid of the box.

Pizza Hut has commissioned five special boxes to be up for grabs. The company has asked interested customers to follow a simple set of mechanics on its Facebook page, where one of the requirements is a membership to the brand’s football interactive platform “Best 12th Man Club.”

“Pizza Hut’s ‘12th Player Club’ campaign is ramping up to encourage football fans who are stuck isolated at home to get into the football spirit, while tucking into great tasting pizza,” said Ogilvy in a press release.

Marketing Director Wendy Leung shared that the special packaging is the brand’s way of reminding football fans that pizza goes best with football.

“We always want to go above and beyond when catering to our audience and given how fatigued the community has been this year, offering fun beyond just food, and bringing an experience like this to life right in your pizza box, is the perfect way to make people smile,” said Leung.

Meanwhile, John Koay, executive creative director for Ogilvy Hong Kong added, “A lot of football fans have been stuck at home during these past few months, so we wanted to bring the fun and flavor to them. The Foosball Pizza Box is a great packaging idea that brings together the football action and delicious pizza for a memorable meal experience that you can share with friends.”

The campaign runs from 6 October to 20 October.

Australia – Special Group Australia has debuted Uber Eats’ “Tonight I’ll be eating” (TIBE) campaign in the United States and Canada, starting with an ad featuring Hollywood superstars Mark Hamill and Patrick Stewart.

The TIBE campaign is the brain child of the agency, and after gaining traction in Australia, Taiwan, and Japan, Uber Eats has decided to add the two countries in the campaign’s audience reach.

In the 45-second spot, Hamill and Stewart who are both in full black suits with a bat in hand are seen approaching each other in a dark warehouse as if on a showdown. Hamill starts delivering a line of “Tonight I’ll be eating,” saying the food he wants to get delivered, then Stewart thereafter. Before they go on a brief verbal showdown, their fierce exteriors momentarily break off as each of their Uber Eats delivery arrives, to say a casual ‘Thank you” and ‘Bravo” to the deliverer. 

The reference is made on the perpetual cultural argument of which sci-fi franchise is better between “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” in which both actors have starred in.

The latest spot follows the same format of past TIBE campaigns. The TIBE ads date back to its early spots in 2017. The campaign has been featuring prominent stars both in Australia and abroad such as British singer Boy George, actress Naomi Watts, and professional rugby league footballer Beau Ryan. The most recent TIBE iteration has global superstar Kim Kardashian-West and renowned Australian character Sharon Strezlecki from the sitcom Kath & Kim gracing the ad, where they are shown having a sarcastic argument on the right pronunciation of the word “nice.”

Hamill and Stewart’s ad follows a series of two other 15-second spots where the two actors compete against each other for the better Uber Eats meal, while simultaneously trying to beat each other at Air Hockey and Connect Four.

Cade Heyde, founding partner of Special Group Australia said, “The ‘Tonight I’ll be eating’ brand platform has had immense success in this market as well as across Asia Pacific. Expanding the platform to the other side of the world is a real honor and an incredibly proud moment for our agency. We couldn’t be more thrilled to share this loved campaign with the US.”

Meanwhile, Head of Marketing at Uber Eats for US and Canada Georgie Jeffreys believes that the launch of the Australia-grown campaign to the US and Canada is a natural progression as TIBE has proven to be a highly effective advertising campaign for the brand.

“It has helped drive record levels of customer penetration and brand affinity in the five markets in which it’s now live, and we’re excited to continue to expand the franchise with this latest launch,” said Jeffreys. 

Joint CCO and partners at Special Group Tom Martin and Julian Schreiber share that for them, the extension of the campaign is no common feat.

“We’re very proud ‘Tonight I’ll be eating’ has become such a cultural phenomenon in Australia and is being taken to the US and Canada. Bringing together two iconic space legends who’s appeal crosses generations feels like the right way to introduce ‘Tonight I’ll be eating’ to the US. It is not often Australian creative work travels to the other side of the world, and we are extremely excited to watch this platform grow,” they said.

Uber Eats is an America-headquartered food delivery platform first launched in 2014. It is the extension of the ride-hailing app Uber. 

Australia – After a competitive pitch, Australian telecommunications company Amaysim has appointed marketing and design company 72andSunny as its creative partner. 

The ad agency who recently celebrated three years in Australia, will be charged with creative duties for the telco, with a campaign as its first project, set to be released later this year.

Chris Kay, 72andSunny’s CEO said “Amaysim is an incredibly nice, smart, and fun group of people and we’re excited to partner with them. They have huge growth ambition and we’re looking forward to working together to facilitate that over the next chapter.” 

Chief marketing officer of Amaysim, Renee Garner channels the same excitement. 

“We’re very excited about our partnership with 72andSunny. The team was very impressive during the pitch process and we’re looking forward to collaborating together to create impactful and exciting work,” said Garner.

In the past couple of months, the ad agency has also garnered creative appointments for a number of brands such as Kraft Heinz’s Golden Circle, and renewable energy operator Infigen Energy, where projects included crafting brand identity, and launching a brand platform.