Tag: agency

Australia – Havas Media has announced the promotion of Kevin Fernandes as its national head of partnerships and adtech across all media channels. The appointment coincides with the restructuring of the partnership team, where it fuses online and above-the-line channel planning and buying to focus on engaging with audiences across all channels in all formats.

The restructuring also emphasises the agency’s focus to find the greatest opportunity for marketers to engage audiences along the customer decision journey. Moreover, this allows more seamless delivery of integrated audience data collection and meaningful insights to be activated at speed across multiple media platforms to drive online or in-store purchases.

In his new role, Fernandes will be responsible for leading the newly merged team to develop integrated thinking across all channels. He previously worked as head of data solutions and adtech for Havas Media where he led the delivery of innovative client solutions across addressable and digital offerings. 

Virginia Hyland, chief executive officer at Havas Media Group, said that Fernandes’ promotion is their natural next step as the company experience the integration of digital and data employment across all media channels.

“I am looking forward to leading the team on our integrated digitisation journey, as we look to deliver solutions for the now and future. Utilising data points and technology to continue to evolve advertising innovation, efficiency, and effective results for our valued clients,” Fernandes added.

This month, Havas Media has also named Rebecca Tos as its new managing partner to lead the new Havas Market× business division.

Sydney, Australia – After a competitive pitch, media agency Initiative has retained its media remit for distillery company Pernod Ricard to work across the entire brand portfolio including all Pernod’s wine, spirit, whiskey, champagne, RTD and ‘new to world’ brands, focusing on Australia and New Zealand market.

Since its sealed partnership in 2019, Initiative has helped the company to propel into culture, with notable highlights including challenging gender bias through The Glenlivet Break The Rules campaign, tackling regional inequality through Absolut Pride Relay, and launching major brands like Malfy Gin and Altos Tequila into market. 

Jo McAlister, managing director at Initiative, said that the agency is excited for another 3 years of partnership with the company to continue its journey in leading ANZ’s competitive alcohol beverage markets across all brand categories.

“This is phenomenal news and we are so proud to continue our partnership. For the past three years we have grown together as brands, collaborating via a truly open and transparent relationship and enjoying an agency/client bond that I’ve rarely seen in market,” McAlister added.

Eric Thomson, CMO at Pernod Ricard Winemakers, added, “The chemistry between Initiative’s team and ours was evident from the start of our relationship three years ago and it has not waned. We are delighted to continue our partnership as we both push forward to produce effective and creative work that connects and engages our customers in an increasingly complex market.”

In January, Initiative also retained its media business remit for energy networks owner Jemena Limited, extending its 10-year relationship with the brand. 

New York – To strengthen its status as one of the few significant agencies on the West Coast, marketing communications agency Wunderman Thompson has appointed Emily Chang as its chief executive officer for West Coast region to lead its offices in LA, Seattle, as well as the Swift boutique agency in Portland.

Chang’s remit also includes overseeing the region’s growing client portfolio including technology companies Microsoft, T-Mobile, Qualcomm, Venmo, Snap, and major automotive brands and DTC companies whilst leveraging Swift boutique agency’s creative and social media expertise.

Prior to joining Wunderman Thompson, Chang also held the CEO position at McCann Worldgroup in China where she restructured the leadership team and developed new strategic and digital capabilities to grow its revenue. 

On the brand side, Chang served as CMO at Starbucks China, chief commercial officer at InterContinental Hotels Group, and was the first executive in China for Apple Retail.

Audrey Melofchik, CEO at Wunderman Thompson North America describes Chang as a powerhouse leader who will bring people together to deliver inspiring brand stories along with her expertise across the marketing ecosystem.

Chang added, “I’ve watched Wunderman Thompson’s build its reputation as the authority on inspiration and look forward to tapping into this insight and adding inspiration of my own when it comes to our clients and culture.”

This month, Wunderman Thompson has also appointed Raji Ramaswamy as chief growth officer and Joy Chauhan as chief client officer for South Asia. 

Asia Pacific – In addition to its existing media remit in Taiwan since 2020, marketing and advertising agency Dentsu International expands its partnership with online delivery platform foodpanda to support its media transformation journey and bring closer collaboration across the markets of Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Prerna Mehrotra, CEO of dentsu Media APAC, said that the agency built a strong foundation in Taiwan by differentiating foodpanda from its competitors, making a great relevance to its target audience. 

Mehrotra added, “To be entrusted with and grow our remit in APAC is a true testament to foodpanda’s confidence in us and we are honoured to add this portfolio in our roster. We are excited to continue driving meaningful difference in their media and marketing strategy and can’t wait to do some great work together.”

Meanwhile, Ankit Kochar, head of brand media for foodpanda APAC, said that the company decided to extend their partnership with the agency due to its strong legacy in media roots by being able to navigate today’s digital complexities.

“Their extensive network and versatility were some of the key criteria that we were seeking in a partner, and we look forward to a meaningful and collaborative relationship in the years ahead,” he added.

Last month, dentsu in Africa has established a partnership with global outdoor advertising technology provider Moving Walls to launch a full-stack Out-of-Home (OOH) adtech platform across the multiple markets in the continent.

Mumbai, India – Advertising agency TBWA\ India appoints Ranjeev Vij as executive director for its North operations to further drive a growth strategy for the agency. Simultaneously, Vij was appointed as managing director of Nissan United 3.0, the dedicated marketing agency for the Nissan brand by TBWA\ to further elevate the impact of the team.

Vij brings with him a strong background in advertising, digital, data and PR working across the markets of United Kingdom and India. In his last stint, he was with Adfactors PR as digital evangelist where he led the digital-first integrated creative mandates and helped in scaling up its digital practice.

He has also worked with marketing and advertising agencies Ogilvy, McCann, BBDO and information technology consulting company Cognizant amongst others. 

Govind Pandey, chief executive officer at TBWA\India said that Ranjeev’s expertise will further accelerate the agency’s ambition to be the leader in total brand experience and disruptive thinking.

Meanwhile, Vij said that the success of brands will be achieved if there is an ability to harness various aspects such as creativity, data, design, technology, experience, commerce, and advertising. 

“I look forward to utilising my diverse experience and propelling our clients’ business forward,” he added.

Aside from Nissan, TBWA\’s global clients include adidas, Apple, Gatorade, Henkel, Hilton Hotels, McDonald’s and Singapore Airlines.

Last month, TBWA\ India has also appointed Russell Barrett as its chief creative experience officer.

South Korea – Wunderman Thompson has announced the appointment of KJ Lee as its managing director for South Korea to lead the agency’s operations in the country and build a business with creativity and technology at its core. 

Lee will also support the growth ambitions of existing clients by collaborating with the APAC network whilst securing new businesses by delivering innovative solutions to the challenges being faced by Korean brands.

Lee brings with him a 20-year working experience in advertising companies. In his last stint, he was with creative agency Serviceplan Group as executive director. Working with at advertising agency Leo Burnett, tobacco company Philp Morris International, and WPP’s Geometry Global were also some of his previous experiences.

Furthermore, Lee formerly served as Havas’ vice president, where he led the team’s growth in a highly competitive market. Aside from winning the lead creative agency for premium brand BMW Korea during his stint, he was able to expand client categories to healthcare, and mobile game and platform industries.

Ewen Sturgeon, international CEO at Wunderman Thompson said that they are thrilled to have Lee in their leadership team due to his deep understanding of the challenges in the modern marketing industry.

Meanwhile, Lee said that he aims to strengthen the agency’s presence in Korea by making it a positively recognized, highly recommended, and deeply respected agency in the country.

“The Wunderman Thompson network, including Korea, has the data and innovative strategic and execution tools to build inspiring consumer-centric, omnichannel communications – adding value and meaning to our clients and partners,” he added.

Earlier this month, the Indian leg of Wunderman Thompson has also appointed Richa Dholi as vice president of strategy planning in India.

Australia – Amidst its global growth, independent marketing and communications agency Bastion has announced the appointment of Karen Powell to the newly created global role of group chief operating officer. 

In her new role, Powell will oversee the agency’s global operations across client, business, people, and marketing functions whilst ensuring that it continues to deliver world-class experiences to brands. Furthermore, she will help in maintaining the agency’s presence in major cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Los Angeles, New York City, Wellington, and Auckland, as well as its agency partnerships across 10 Asian markets. 

Powell brings with her a strong background in regional go-to-market planning, integrated digital marketing, audience intelligence, marketing automation and experiential events working across Asia Pacific and North America.

Prior to joining Bastion, Powell was with Australia’s longest-standing B2B marketing agency McCorkell and Associates since 2006. In her entire stay in the agency, she held several positions including being its general manager and managing directorwhere she has advised several multinational brands such as Salesforce, Lexus, Telstra, EMC, AIG, Harley Davidson, SAP, and AMEX.

Whilst working with McCorkell and Associates, she also assumed board director positions at Dress for Success Sydney and B2B network ICON APAC. In addition, she formerly served as managing director of B2B agency BBN for APAC. 

Jack Watts, chief executive officer at Bastion, said that they are thrilled to have Powell in their agency, especially that they have spent over a decade establishing Bastion as a global outift that delivers deep expertise.

Powell believes that the agency is unique in terms of its integrated model across business units, providing expertise from various disciplines and world-class work for clients.

“I look forward to working with the diverse, curious, and creative people at Bastion as we continue to grow the new world agency,” she said.

Singapore – Global creative and media agency VaynerMedia has appointed Chan Woei Hern as the head of creative for Asia-Pacific, where he will further strengthen its credentials as an integrated consumer-centric agency in the region.

The seasoned creative brings with him an experience in the advertising world across the creative, media, content and film segments. He previously served as the executive creative director of VMLY&R Commerce for Malaysia and Southeast Asia, where he integrated and accelerated growth in the areas of creative commerce.

Woei Hern has also led the creative teams at advertising agencies Naga DDB, dentsu, and Ensemble and has worked with brands such as Grab, Nippon Paint, Maxis Communications, Petronas and Munchy’s.

In his new role, he will be reporting to Tim Lindley, managing director of VaynerMedia APAC.

Lindley said that when they started to find a successor for VJ Anand, who was recently promoted to the ECD position for the EMEA region, Woei Hern was on the top of their list. 

Lindley added, “His excitement for our attention-first model, his curiosity across platforms, and his passion to develop great people make us even more excited about the next phase of our growth. Woei Hern is an exceptional creative talent, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the team.”

Meanwhile, Woei Hern commented on how inspiring the energy is in the media agency. 

He added, “I can’t wait to see what an amazing adventure this will be to bring the culture to life through the work we do together as a team.”-

Last November 2022, one of the leaders of VaynerMedia APAC, Jonathan Gerard, who is its head of production, joined MARKETECH APAC as one of the speakers at the webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC. As part of the panel discussion, Gerard shared his insights on how brands should best engage with influencers as their content creator partners.

London, United Kingdom – Committed to global expansion and future growth, global integrated communications agency WE Communications has announced two regional executive roles for APAC and EMEA, promoting Avian WE group CEO Nitin Mantri to regional executive managing director for APAC, and WE’s UK managing director Ruth Allchurch to regional executive managing director for EMEA.

Mantri and Allchurch will both help in strengthening the agency’s operations in APAC and EMEA by overseeing client retention and business development, nurturing the teams of talents, and driving strategic growth initiatives through the development of new client services and capabilities. 

The two new hires will report to the president of International and global chief operating officer Kass Sells, who oversees WE’s eight international markets and its affiliate network. 

Speaking on Mantri’s appointment, Sells said that he has demonstrated his ability to develop teams and business operations that fuels the agency’s growth. Meanwhile, Sells considers Allchurch as a leader of action who will extend her knowledge to EMEA, after seeing her as an instrument for growth in their UK Business.

Sells added, “I’m proud of how each of these leaders has evolved at WE, developing their teams, building successful relationships with clients, all with an eye toward the future.”

Meanwhile, Melissa Waggener Zorkin, global CEO of WE Communications, said, “Our sector and services growth, expanded client partnerships, and acquisitions in these international markets have created an exciting inflection point for our business. We are well positioned to make strategic changes to our broader international leadership team that will enable us to build our blueprint for future growth.”

Mantri will maintain his Avian WE Group CEO title while Allchurch will continue to manage WE’s recent acquisition of Hopscotch Consulting.

Singapore – Pizza Hut in Singapore has appointed global marketing agency TEAM LEWIS as its agency of record for integrated communications, including public relations as well as social media content creation and management.

The mandate, which started in January this year, will aid Pizza Hut Singapore in amplifying its brand story and bring its passion and celebration of pizzas to life. The agency is also responsible for providing consultancy and handling media relations, as well as content creation for social media while maintaining a prominent and consistent identity across communication channels. 

Jayss Rajoo, director of marketing and food innovation at Pizza Hut Singapore, commented on the appointment, “As the largest pizza chain in Singapore, we remain dedicated to continuously reinventing ourselves to stay relevant to our ever-changing customers’ needs. TEAM LEWIS won by a mile – having demonstrated a strategic understanding of the nuances of the Pizza Hut brand, our customers, and the Singapore market.” 

Rajoo added, “The team delivered creative strategies that embody our needs holistically, and we look forward to working with TEAM LEWIS to weave our brand identity into narratives that will boost our position as a thought leader in the F&B industry and a leading brand in the QSR space.” 

Meanwhile, Pamela Tor Das, managing director at TEAM LEWIS Singapore said, “The food and beverage industry is constantly changing in the face of ever-increasing food options. We are thrilled to partner with Pizza Hut Singapore and look forward to further cementing its position as Singapore’s favourite pizza QSR brand through creative campaigns and storytelling.”

TEAM LEWIS has also handled mandates for HMD Global and Singapore’s National Youth Council.