Tag: BCW

Singapore – Global communications agency Burson, formed from the merger of WPP’s BCW and Hill & Knowlton, has announced a series of strategic appointments to its Asia-Pacific leadership team, aimed at enhancing its presence and capabilities in the region.

In Singapore, Cindy Lim is appointed as the new chief executive officer. Prior to her appointment, Lim was BCW’s CEO and market leader in Singapore. Joining her is Rikki Jones, who will take on a dual role as CEO for Burson Group Singapore and president for GCI Health Asia-Pacific. 

Burson also named Claire Li as the new CEO for Greater China. Li was formerly with Starbucks China as its vice president for communications before joining Hill & Knowlton in 2023 as its CEO for Greater China. Meanwhile, Tsuyoshi Takemura will take on the role of CEO for Burson Japan. 

Marianne Admardatine, from Hill & Knowlton, will now serve as the CEO of Burson Indonesia. Also from Hill & Knowlton, Justin Then is named the new CEO of Burson Malaysia. 

In Thailand, Burson has named Wachiraporn Pornpitayalert as its new market leader. She previously served as the managing director for Hill & Knowlton Thailand. 

On the other hand, Deepshikha Dharmaraj from BCW will also serve as the new CEO of Burson Group India. And Tom Horn, who served as the corporate practice director for Australia and New Zealand at BCW Global, will take on the new role of market leader for Burson ANZ. 

HS Chung will also continue to lead Burson Korea as CEO, in addition to her role as North APAC CEO.

Commenting on the appointments, Chung said, “In today’s fast-evolving environment, clients need the best talent and capabilities to solve their most complex challenges. With our extensive footprint and reach across APAC, clients will gain access to a diverse team of specialists with decades of experience building and protecting reputations for multinational businesses in Asia and Asian enterprises overseas.”

Adrian Warr, South APAC CEO at Burson, also shared, “Innovation and creativity are at the heart of our commitment to delivering unparalleled value for our clients in APAC. Our world-class talent will lead through exceptional creative thinking and bring innovation into action to build reputation capital as a competitive advantage for our clients, today and into the future.” 

These appointments come in the wake of this year’s merger, where WPP combined its communications agencies, Hill+Knowlton and BCW, to form Burson. This union leverages the unparalleled talent, extensive global networks, advanced technology investments, creative capabilities, and public affairs and advisory expertise of both organisations to drive reputation enhancement and value creation.

Singapore – Global advertising holding company WPP has announced yet another merger, as it announced the merger of communications agencies Hill+Knowlton and BCW to create Burson, aimed at becoming a full-service communications agency focused on building and protecting reputation.

The new merger comes on the back of yet another merger between VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson to create VML.

Corey duBrowa, currently global CEO of BCW, has been named global CEO of Burson and AnnaMaria DeSalva, currently, global chairman and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, has been named global chairman of Burson. 

Together, they will oversee agency strategy, client service, employee experience and culture. Burson will be operational from 1 July 2024, and its new brand will be unveiled later this year.

According to WPP, this union of agencies will enable Burson to best serve clients in a complex and volatile environment in which strategic stakeholder communications has never been more critical. 

Moreover, WPP notes that the new agency will draw on both organisations’ unrivaled talent base, exceptional global networks, investments in technology, creative capabilities, and public affairs and advisory specialities to drive reputation and value creation through the interdisciplinary solutions that clients demand.

Speaking on the merger, duBrowa said, “Harold Burson believed strongly that actions are stronger than words, and he established honesty, transparency, integrity and excellence as the guiding principles of his business. Those principles are the foundational ideals of Burson, upon which we will set the bar for modern communications through our AI-first innovation pipeline..”

He added, “Together as Burson, we will bring insights, expert strategic counsel and technology solutions into a higher value offering for our clients to help them innovate and lead in today’s complex operating environment.”

Meanwhile, DeSalva commented, “The combination of Hill & Knowlton and BCW is highly synergistic, creating a premier partner for business leaders who are focused on commercial growth, risk management, and reputational capital. Our body of work increasingly demonstrates that strategic communication, elevated by creativity, is a primary force for sustainable value creation.”

She added, “By accelerating our transformation through this combination, we will enable the investments in talent and technology that advance communications leadership when it has never mattered more.”

Burson’s leadership team will comprise a cohort of top-tier former chief communications officers and other experienced agency senior executives from both companies who bring deep expertise and knowledge of what business leaders need to succeed. Appointments will be announced throughout 2024 as the integration progresses.

In addition, GCI Health and AxiCom will continue to operate as brands within Burson, offering specialised healthcare and technology communications expertise, respectively, at scale.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, stated, “Hill & Knowlton and BCW are two high-performing businesses with complementary strengths, shared ambitions and many shared clients. I am delighted to see the Burson brand brought back to unite them. The new agency will be the standard bearer as the most modern, strategic, technology-driven, full-service communications offer in the industry.”

Gurugram, India – Global communications agency BCW has elevated Deepshikha Dharmaraj to the role of chief executive officer at BCW India Group, effective immediately. She will still retain her role of chief executive officer at Genesis BCW.

Through her new role, she will be managing the overall business interests of BCW in India and implementing its growth strategy encompassing people, clients and partners. She is supported by Prema Sagar, chairperson at BCW India Group, as well as the leadership teams at Genesis BCW and Six Degrees BCW, including Vandana Sandhir, who now leads Six Degrees BCW.

Speaking about her appointment, Dharmaraj said, “Under BCW India Group, we have faced the challenges of the past two years with our combined assets and come out stronger for it. BCW India Group has ambitious plans for 2022 and I am excited to work closely with both the Genesis BCW and Six Degrees BCW leadership teams to take the business to new heights.”

BCW India Group was formed when Genesis BCW and Six Degrees BCW were integrated under one business group in the market in January 2020.

Meanwhile, Matt Stafford, president at BCW Asia-Pacific, commented, “Under Deepshikha’s impressive leadership in 2021, Genesis BCW has achieved one of its best years of revenue growth in its nearly three decades of operation. Six Degrees has also recorded double digit growth this year under Rishi and Vandana. The time is right for Deepshikha to take on a wider role overseeing both of our fantastic teams in India.”

Donna Imperato, global CEO at BCW and CEO at BCW Group, said, “India is a critical market for BCW and I’m confident in Deepshikha’s ability to lead the formidable talent under BCW India Group. I am excited to see how, together with the integrated India team, Deepshikha will continue to innovate our Earned-Plus offer to deliver even greater value to our clients.”

Singapore – Scoot, the low-cost airline subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, has named global communications agency BCW as its public relation agency partner in Singapore, following a closed-door competitive presentation process.

Through the mandate win, BCW will work with Scoot to raise awareness of the brand and reputation in the market, along with the safe and gradual resumption of international air travel.

For Cindy Lim, market leader at BCW Singapore, they are excited to work with the airline, noting that Scoot has been a household name and an ‘innovation-driven, youthful’ brand, one that invokes a sense of adventure.

“Singapore is, and will continue to be, a critical hub for both travel and tourism and strategic communications in Asia-Pacific, and our focus will be on leveraging our earned-plus capabilities to reach people wherever they are for Scoot as it enters its next phase of growth,” Lim stated.

Meanwhile, Agatha Yap, director for communication, brand and marketing, market partnerships and loyalty at Scoot, commented that Lim’s team immediately won them over with their understanding of the industry, clarity of thought and creative energy. She further added that they are excited to be partnering with them on their corporate communications efforts in Singapore.

“We believe passengers’ urge to travel is alive and well. Post-pandemic, we are confident Scoot’s strong value proposition, coupled with an innovative, safe and Scootitude-fuelled travel experience, will meet the demands of mass leisure travellers,” Yap stated.

Scoot had recently tapped cross-channel marketing platform Insider to create personalized, multi-channel experiences for customers on its website, therefore improving their online customer experience (CX).

Singapore – The Asia Pacific arm of global communications agency Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) has announced two key changes in their senior leadership lineup; with Polka Yu appointed as deputy to the APAC president, and Joe Peng as chief digital officer at BCW Asia-Pacific.

Both new appointees will report directly to Matt Stafford, President, BCW Asia-Pacific.

Through her new role, Yu will work alongside Stafford in implementing the next phase of BCW’s three-year growth strategy in APAC built around investments in creative technology, research, and content production; and leveraging the agency’s leadership in reputation management, Asia-based multinationals, and the information and communications technology, consumer and healthcare sectors.

Meanwhile, Peng will spearhead the optimization of the region’s core digital innovation backbone, including establishing new digital platforms of excellence around data analytics and artificial intelligence.

Yu’s background is composed of a decade of work for BCW in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou helping multi-national companies with their China campaigns. After relocating to Hong Kong from mainland China in 2014, she shifted her focus to supporting Chinese companies with their going-global strategies. Since 2018, she has led BCW’s regional integrated communications practice that used insights and creative technology to develop compelling campaigns, many of which have won many prominent industry awards.

On the other hand, Peng has a 15-year work background, which has delivered digital media campaigns for clients across industries including aviation, computer, cosmetics, education, entertainment, finance, semiconductor, and manufacturing. Earlier in his career, Peng led digital innovation at Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe.

Speaking about her appointment, Yu stated, “Our efforts to bring together the best industry talent to tell powerful and precise stories that move people on behalf of our clients, deliver impressive business results despite the COVID-19 disruption, and innovate to set new standards for the future of communications have paid off. But there is still much to do, and I am beyond thrilled to be part of the driving force in this next chapter.”

Meanwhile, Peng commented, “BCW innovated in response to the digital transformation needs of clients brought on by COVID-19 at a scale and speed we never thought possible. Looking to the year ahead, our priority is to maintain the quality and grow the range of BCW’s digital services we deliver at a regional level to help our clients gain a competitive advantage.”

For Stafford, the new roles of Yu and Peng will bring more critical success for BCW, as he has seen the achievement both appointees have shown back when they were mid-level consultants.

“Together with their fantastic teams, they have played critical roles in our company’s evolution to a truly integrated and digital innovation agency in this region. This transformation was a key contributor to the strong growth BCW has delivered in Asia-Pacific over the past three years,” Stafford added.