Tag: Appointments

Singapore – Mana Partners, the global gaming and esports venture builder, has appointed Matthew Zatto, former chief executive officer at hybrid consulting firm Travel Intelligence Partners, to be its new chief commercial officer.

Mana Partners is a trading, technology, and asset management firm launched last year which constitutes a brand consultancy, technology development, and industry investments. The venture builder aims to help brands, startups, and rights owners to unlock new communities and opportunities through partnerships and programs.

Based out of Singapore, Zatto, for the new role, will be developing new revenue streams and commercial partnership opportunities in order to expand the company across SEA. He will be joining a diverse founding team that includes some of the region’s most experienced industry leaders, namely, Jamie Lewin, the managing partner and chief strategy officer at Mana Partners, and Mike Kang, the company’s managing partner and chief operating officer. 

Zatto brings with him over 14 years of experience in martech and advertising across a variety of sectors. Aside from his former role at Travel Intelligence Partners, Zatto has also previously worked as the vice president of sales at global permissioned data and verified identity firm Adara. Some of his past roles also include being the destination marketing sales manager for SEA at travel company TripAdvisor, and being the sales and business development lead at Wildfire Interactive, the social media SaaS platform that was acquired by Google.

Zatto commented he is excited to be joining the Mana team at such a tipping point in the gaming and esports growth story. 

“I believe Mana Partners has a novel business model and tremendously talented management team that uniquely positions us to capitalize on the opportunity in SEA and beyond. As the ecosystem evolves, I believe Mana Partners can be the economic catalyst in the gaming and esports industry,” said Zatto.

Meanwhile, Lewin believes that Zatto will be bringing invaluable experience in scaling high-growth and innovative businesses across the region and his commercial acumen, adaptability, and quenchless enthusiasm will undoubtedly set them up for success in driving the business forward.

“At Mana Partners, we bring the uniquely diverse experience of our people – within game developers, publishers, esports producers, brands, media agencies, and technology companies – to brand challenges,” noted Lewin.

In the coming months, the company has announced that it plans to develop and launch proprietary technologies and rapidly grow the business across SEA before further expansion into North America and Europe.

Singapore – Interpublic Group (IPG) has appointed Mish Fletcher, former executive vice president and global growth officer at creative data and CRM agency FCB/SIX, to assume the newly created role of chief growth officer for APAC.

Prior to her role at FCB/SIX, Fletcher has spent several years as the managing director and global head of marketing at digital company Accenture Interactive, where she led a global team that drove business growth and record revenues through new capabilities, thought leadership, and demand generation, as well as sales enablement activities. Fletcher has also previously worked with traditional marketing firm OgilvyOne Worldwide and communications agency MacLaurin PR in the United Kingdom.

In this newly created position, Fletcher will be IPG’s first regional executive at the holding company level in APAC. She will be based in Sydney, Australia, and will work across the region, partnering with IPG agencies to ensure that the company is delivering the best marketing solutions to help drive growth for clients. Fletcher will report directly to IPG’s Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer Simon Bond.

Commenting on her appointment, Fletcher said that she is thrilled to be taking on the new role, which will allow her to leverage key assets that IPG has invested in, including Acxiom, Kinesso, and Matterkind, as well as Hedy, and IPG Studios on behalf of clients in the region.

“Uniting these technologies, data and agile production capabilities creates a transformational performance machine that has the power to supercharge creativity, bringing new possibilities to marketers, seamlessly and efficiently,” said Fletcher.

Meanwhile, Bond commented that Fletcher is a true globalist with extensive experience in leveraging data and technology to deliver creative, personalized marketing communications on behalf of brands, at scale.

“She has a deep industry background helping clients drive conversion and effectiveness with their marketing,” noted Bond.

IPG’s Chief Executive Officer Philippe Krakowsky said that as the complexity of media and marketing continues to increase, they are increasingly seeing clients ask for holistic thinking and solutions.

“Mish is the right person to ensure that we can deliver on these kinds of briefs. She has all of the requisite expertise and is also a great fit with our culture, which values and rewards curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. Mish and her team can deliver these integrated, modern marketing solutions in order to help clients achieve their business goals and thrive in the digital economy,” said Krakowsky.

New Delhi, India – Creative agency BBDO India has announced the appointment of Krishna Mani as the new chief creative officer for BBDO Delhi.

He brings more than 18 years of experience and solid heritage of brand work. He previously worked with Ogilvy India, as he created distinctive work across many brands, from home appliance company Voltas Ac to year-on-year creating refreshingly clever work for Sprite India, as well as KFC and Pizza Hut. In addition, he also had a brief stint at dentsu, working with brands such as motor company TVS and automobile brand Toyota.

Krishna has nurtured and guided young teams to find their distinctive voice and grow. He believes learning and unlearning is crucial to remain forever young and relevant in advertising.

Talking about Mani’s appointment, Josy Paul, chairman and CCO at BBDO India, said “Krishna’s work is legendary, his craft is brilliant, and his focus on where advertising is going is exciting. Together we’ll hit the sweet spot where the media meets the idea. Along with our youthful and diverse talent, we believe Krishna Mani will create greater value for our clients as he pushes the industry forward.”

Meanwhile, Suraja Kishore, CEO at BBDO India, commented , “For us at BBDO we seek leaders who are not so much like-minded as like-hearted, in Mani we discovered an Empath Creative. He understands the power of human confessions in unlocking the creative charge that a brand needs.”

He added, “We are certain that Mani will add immense value to BBDO’s equity, and in partnership with Nikhil Mahajan- who heads our Delhi operations, he will make the BBDO offering to our clients stronger and will create work that will drive growth for our clients.”

Speaking about his appointment and new role, he shared, “I’ve always admired the work BBDO has created. It’s real, rooted in brands and culturally so relevant. A chance to work and learn from mentors like Josy and Suraja was not to be missed.”

London, United Kingdom – Green Park Content (GPC), the global content marketing and brand publishing agency, has appointed William Goodenough, former chairman and co-founder of global design agency Design Bridge, to be the new chairman of its board of directors.

Goodenough will have the new appointment as an additional role, continuing as the governor of Goodenough College in London and Gresham’s School, as well as a trustee of conservation charity Norfolk Rivers’ Trust.

Goodenough brings with him his extensive experience in the industry. Prior to selling Design Bridge to creative transformation company WPP in 2019, he has previously held many senior leadership roles within the business, such as head of sales, managing director, and CEO, as well as chairman.

As part of his new role, Goodenough will be leveraging his expertise in building management structures, skill sets, and systems to significantly scale the GPC brand across its global offices, including London, Jakarta, and Singapore, as well as New York, and Sao Paulo.

Commenting on his appointment, Goodenough said that he is honored to join Green Park Content and to work with its world-class team and global clients. 

“I’m really enjoying working with Green Park Content to help drive its industry and thought leadership status in SEO-driven brand publishing and search, to power client-centricity, and to ignite growth. I am proud to be part of the exciting and transformational journey ahead.”

Meanwhile, Sven Lung, founder and CEO of Green Park Content, commented that they are honored and thrilled to welcome Goodenough as the chairman.

“After successfully founding BRANDALLEY as the top private sale operator in the UK with more than 15 million members, I founded Green Park Content with the goal to help brands become media brands by implementing brand publishing strategies. Will brings with him an amazing proven system that is already helping us to grow and break our own ceilings and deliver global scale,” said Lung.

Green Park Content APAC’s Managing Director Marcelo Bittencourt shared that everyone is receptive to Goodenough’s advice that comes from his decades of entrepreneurial success and his extensive list of achievements in the industry. 

“Will’s appointment as chairman has raised the bar for our scale and growth plans significantly, and this is just the beginning. With Will’s guidance, we have a very clear business roadmap that allows GPC to be well-positioned for strong future growth in APAC and globally,” said Bittencourt.

Singapore – In its continuing bid to expand its product strategy and development services in the region, programmatic media partner MiQ has appointed Damien Healy as MiQ’s digital operations officer for Asia-Pacific.

Healy will be responsible for scaling its agency and advertiser relationships, mapping their vision and business direction into MiQ’s technology, data, and execution pathways. 

In addition, he brings into the company 20 years’ experience in product and operation leadership positions driving business growth and profitability for major advertising technology and media performance companies across international organizations. 

Prior to his new appointment, Healy was the global officer for programmatic and addressable media at dentsu international, where he led the global strategy across dentsu’s programmatic and addressable service lines. Furthermore, he also spent five years at GroupM’s Xaxis where he led operations, platforms, and product as COO for EMEA.

“I’ve always been impressed by the depth of technology and data capability that MiQ brings to market. Their ability to partner with agencies and brands to deliver meaningful programmatic media value is undoubtedly world-class. I’m excited to join the business in a period of high growth and ever-increasing relevance as buyers seek value within new digital channels and the fragmenting identity landscape,” Healy said, regarding his appointment.

He will report to Jason Scott, CEO for ANZ at MiQ, who commented that Healy will be helping the company to scale itself and its client relationships by mapping their vision and business direction with their technology, data, and execution pathways to supercharge their partnerships in an evolving market. 

“Damien will represent APAC within our global technology, product and strategy cohort. An important step into the future given the growth ambitions and nuances of MiQ in our region. His vast experience and pivotal roles leading digital companies through change, rapid growth, and innovation will add a real depth and spark to our APAC efforts, as well as another brilliant strategic brain for us to help deliver on our ambitions for our clients,” Scott added.

Singapore – Global media company dentsu international has appointed former global co-president at dentsumcgarrybowen, Merlee Jayme, to now assume the role of chief creative officer for the APAC region.

Jayme will have the new appointment as an additional role, continuing as part of the core team in the global creative experience council at dentsu and sponsor of the region’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity (DEI) program.

Jayme first joined the group through dentsu’s acquisition of her creative agency, bringing with her extensive experience in the creative sector. She is also known as a passionate advocate for the power of ideas in changing the world and DEI.

As part of her new role, Jayme will be responsible for creative excellence across dentsu’s creative and experience agencies in the region. These agencies include Isobar, dentsumcgarrybowen, and creative agencies under the house of dentsu, such as dentsu One, dentsu Webchutney, and Taproot dentsu.

Commenting on her new role, Jayme said that she is excited to be back in her home region, working hand-in-hand with their amazing colleagues in APAC to create great work that matters for the clients.

“My global role at dentsumcgarrybowen has opened my eyes to the integrated opportunities we can create to push creativity and innovation, solving our client’s problems with all creative capabilities across dentsu,” said Jayme.

Meanwhile, Jean Lin, the global CEO of creative at dentsu international, commented, “Merlee’s inclusive creative leadership, Asian roots, and global experience work brilliantly to deliver idea-led transformation in APAC, one of the most vibrant playgrounds for business creativity. We have an ambitious plan for APAC and are thrilled to have Merlee focus on the region she calls home.”

Dentsu APAC’s CEO Ashish Bhasin shared that Jayme’s creative ability speaks for itself and her entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and innate ability to get the best out of the people she works with make her truly unique. 

“I am excited to see her instill further excellence across our agencies and unleash the potential of our creative business, driving deeper connections with our clients and the consumers they’re talking with,” said Bhasin.

Manila, Philippines – Insurance company Chubb in the Philippines has recently announced the appointment of its new country manager, Mari Rachelle [Cielo] Canta, effective starting 1 July.

Canta replaces incumbent country manager Peter van Ratingen, who has since then been appointed to the role of head of consumer lines for Australia and New Zealand at Chubb.

In her new role, Canta will oversee the operations and business development activities of Chubb’s key business lines in the Philippines namely, property and casualty as well as accident and health insurance. She will be also responsible for the management of regulatory relationships, strategic partnerships and affinity relationships.

Canta joined Chubb in 2017 as Chief Financial Officer for the Philippines. Her well-balanced acumen on all facets of finance, planning and controllership as well as operational risk is complemented by her strong general management skills. Prior to joining Chubb, she worked for a decade with insurance company AON, moving to roles of increasing responsibility in the Philippines as well as Singapore. 

In addition, she has extensive experience in the banking sector, from merger and acquisition integration to board and senior leadership team responsibilities.

She will report to Edward Ler, head of Southeast Asia at Chubb.

Paul McNamee, regional president for Asia Pacific at Chubb, said, “Cielo is a strategic and hands-on leader who has strong market knowledge and relationships. Our business will benefit greatly from her deep local experience to build sustainable partnerships with our distribution partners and customers.”

Australia – Global comparison platform Finder in Australia has appointed Adam Freedman, former practice head at media agency Red Havas Australia, to be its new head of PR and communications.

Freedman’s appointment comes after the elevation of Bessie Hassan, former head of PR and communications of Finder ANZ, who now takes the helm as global head of communications.

Freedman brings with him nine years of experience across consumer and corporate PR and communications sectors. Prior to joining Finder, he spearheaded numerous critically-acclaimed campaigns, working with an array of well-known household brands and businesses including BIG W, Booking.com, Ola, and Unilever, as well as Lion, and Sanitarium, among others.

As part of his new role, Freedman will be tasked with developing the brand’s domestic communications strategy to cement Finder as the first and most trusted choice for consumers that are seeking to make better financial decisions.

Furthermore, he will be harnessing his insights and expertise to evolve Finder’s narrative, building awareness of the scale of the Finder proposition, as well as growing credibility with Australian consumers.

Commenting on his appointment, Freedman said that he is looking forward to utilizing their expertise and collective ambition, taking the communications strategy to another level to capture the imagination of Australians and get them thinking about their finances in new and different ways.

“As a long-time Finder fan and someone who has a big interest in personal finance, I’m delighted to join the Finder crew and show how the brand can make a real difference in people’s lives and set them up for success,” added Freedman.

Meanwhile, Finder Australia’s CEO Chris Ellis, commented that Freedman’s appointment was key in supporting the company’s plans for its next phase of growth in Australia and they are thrilled to have him join them to help find new and compelling ways to share the Finder story with even more Australians.

“Adam is a passionate communications leader with a thirst for success so I’m excited to see him lead the team forward. He has a strong pedigree in creating unique and memorable campaigns and stories that get people talking and create impact. We’re looking forward to seeing him elevate our communications strategy and illustrate how and why Finder should be the number one choice to support Australians with their financial decision-making,” said Ellis.

Recently, Finder has announced several successful endeavors, such as securing its accreditation for open banking, opening its second office in the United States, and its acquisition of Singapore-based fintech GoBear.

Tokyo, Japan – Advertising network Grey Group in Tokyo, Japan has announced the promotion of Masanori Tagaya, former executive creative director, to now assume the role of chief creative officer.

Tagaya first joined Grey Japan in 2002 as a TVC producer and copywriter and rose through the ranks to be named creative director in 2012 and executive creative director in 2019. He worked on multiple brand campaigns for P&G, Febreze, and Pantene, as well as Lenor, and Pringles, among others. 

Commenting on his promotion, Tagaya said that he finds it to be an extraordinary opportunity to dive in, creating work that represents different styles, and enjoying the ride along with the team,

“Consumer insights have changed. Our work styles have changed. We have arrived at an age where companies and brands must be meaningful in the market and be meaningful in society,” said Tagaya.

Meanwhile, Yukiko Ochiai, the CEO and president of Grey Tokyo, shared that Tagaya has proven himself to be an excellent creative leader who delivers creatively celebrated work that helps the clients’ business grow. 

“Our world has changed, and with that, our consumers’ habits have changed. I am confident Masa will accelerate Grey Tokyo’s ability to develop ground-breaking work that is truly ‘famously effective’ in our new world, which will continue to drive growth for our clients,” said Ochiai.

In March this year, Grey Group in China has also announced the appointment of Sharlene Wu as the new CEO, with the aim to build better connections with Chinese Grey clients. Wu was tasked to drive the agency’s overall strategic vision and growth plan.

Singapore – Reprise, the global performance marketing agency of IPG Mediabrands, has appointed Pippa Berlocher, former head of media APAC at marketing firm Merkle B2B, to assume the newly created role of president of Reprise APAC.

The appointment comes after the resignation of Ben Poole, who assumed the role of managing director of Reprise APAC. The agency shared that Poole will be leaving Mediabrands towards the end of July for a new opportunity. 

Succeeding Poole, Berlocher brings with her strong global media experience. In her previous role at Merkle B2B, she was responsible for developing and implementing the firm’s offering across APAC, including brand strategy, creative and content, e-commerce, and research, as well as CRM. 

As part of her new role, Berlocher will be based in the agency’s regional headquarters in Singapore and will be responsible for the business performance and vision implementation for the growing APAC region. She will be focusing on new business development and new product and service capabilities, working in close collaboration with its Mediabrands partner agencies – UM and Initiative. 

Furthermore, Berlocher will be developing new tools and approaches that can help clients optimize their media budgets, streamline their customer experience, and orchestrate the content they develop for customers, as well as growing and developing Reprise Commerce, the company’s dedicated e-commerce group.

Commenting on her appointment, Berlocher said, “I am really passionate about delivering excellence to our clients and business, and excited for the opportunity to do this using Reprise’s best-in-class solutions! I’m looking forward to leading a phenomenal and high-performing team across APAC.”

Meanwhile, Dimitri Maex, the global CEO of Reprise, commented that they are thrilled to welcome Berlocher onboard at Reprise as an energetic and entrepreneurial leader who embodies the Reprise values and can help position Reprise and the agency network at the forefront of this positive change.

“With the industry moving at a newly accelerated pace we have been investing ahead of the curve in growth areas like e-commerce, experience design, and performance content, while at the same time taking tangible steps towards creating a safe and responsible media environment for advertisers and consumers alike,” said Maex.