Tag: Chief Strategy Officer

Hong Kong – Advertising and marketing agency Grey in Hong Kong has announced four new promotions across their local team namely (from left to right) Desmond Li as regional business partner, Duffy Lau as general manager, Winky To as regional business partner, and Owen Smith as chief strategy officer.

In his new elevated role, Li will continue to grow and expand Grey HK’s travel and hospitality sector across the APAC and Greater China regions. He joined the agency in 2017 as a senior account director working with the P&G Downy and Whisper team, and later transitioned to lead both the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Marriott International accounts of the agency. 

Meanwhile, Lau joined Grey in 2014 as an associate account director and has worked closely with multiple client brands and played an instrumental role in leading the business’ growth, especially in China.

“Duffy is a game-changer with entrepreneurial leadership skills and a vision for business growth both for our clients and for our studio. I have great confidence that along with our strong management team, we will reach even greater heights,” said Adam O’Conor, CEO at Grey Group Hong Kong and chief client officer at Grey Group AMEA.

Speaking about his appointment, Lau stated, “I am happy to take on this new challenge, especially at a place I call home (Grey HK). I truly believe in change and whenever there is a challenge, there is a new opportunity for us to grow better and stronger. Together with Adam and our leadership team, I am confident we can leverage on our talent and capabilities and take the studio to the next level.”

To joined GREY Shanghai in 2014 as business director working on the Volvo and HSBC accounts, before moving to Grey Hong Kong as business partner, leading the HSBC team. She has been credited with deepening the agency’s relationship from B2B to now include branding, insurance, and asset management.

Meanwhile, Smith joined Grey in 2017 as head of strategy and has since built up a team that has consistently driven famously effective work, brought thought leadership to Grey clients and raised the profile and the value of the group’s strategic capabilities. With his breadth of local and global responsibilities, he has provided valuable strategic contributions helping to fuel growth for Grey HK’s key clients such as HSBC, HKTB and P&G across the region.

“There is nothing more satisfying than promoting talent from within to key leadership roles. Personal growth should be as much a focus for an agency as commercial growth, and these four promotions underscore that loyalty, curiosity and a passion for our clients will always be the key to success for people of Grey,” O’Conor added.

Shanghai, China – Creative agency and consulting company Wunderman Thompson in China has recently bolstered its leadership team with the appointment of Raymond Chin as chief creative officer and Joyce Ling as chief strategy officer.

With 20 years of experience, Chin has used creative innovation to propel many brands’ digital transformation. Having previously served as digital creative director at advertising company J Walter Thompson in Shanghai from 2008 to 2013, Chin returns to the Wunderman Thompson network after serving as Accenture Interactive’s chief experience officer, leading subsidiary ad agency Droga5 in creating a more meaningful and targeted customer experience for brands.

“Brand creativity should not be just about communication but should also cover all dimensions of brand experience from product, service to CX innovations. It’s why I am excited to return to Wunderman Thompson, an agency that believes in this experience-driven approach,” Chin said regarding his appointment.

Meanwhile, Ling was previously the chief strategy officer for J. Walter Thompson for Greater China and was also previously chief strategy officer at ad agency network McCann Worldgroup in China, and vice president of strategy at digital consulting company Publicis.Sapient.

Having 20 years of experience in both traditional and digital advertising in China under her belt, Ling’s experience spans industries, including technology, luxury goods, FMCG, health, tourism, and lifestyle. She has worked on more than 100 brands, including Nestle, Michael Kors, LVMH, Heineken, Unilever and more.

“It’s very exciting to be back at the Wunderman Thompson network. I look forward to enhancing our strategic offerings to set up for client success, together with a team of driven and passionate talents.” Ling said pertaining to her appointment.

Both will serve under the leadership of Carter Chow, chief executive officer at Wunderman Thompson China.

“Their experiences since their previous tenure at J Walter Thompson have mirrored our growth as an agency network, and we are glad for the opportunity to work together again. I am certain that both Raymond and Joyce will further our growth as a future-focused agency and look forward to the collision of inspiration and ideas,” Chow concluded.

Australia – Marketing and communications firm Havas Creative Group in Australia has announced a new leadership movement – the elevation of Olly Taylor, its former chief strategy officer at creative arm Host/Havas, to assume the newly created role of chief strategy officer.

Taylor is an industry strategy veteran who has worked at Host and its subsequent merged Host/Havas business for almost 18 years. He originally joined Host Sydney in 2003 as the agency’s first planning director.

Prior to joining Host, he worked as a senior planner at advertising agency Fallon in London, after beginning his career at another advertising company DMB&B in 1998.

As the first chief strategy officer of the Group, Taylor will be leading the overall strategic business of Host/Havas, Red Havas, One Green Bean, Havas Commerce, and a new research and insights capability, Havas Labs. His remit spans across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

Furthermore, Taylor will be responsible for the development of IP and processes for world-class strategy across paid, earned, and owned media, on and offline.

Commenting on his new role, Taylor said that he is truly excited by the opportunity to now lead the creative group strategy across brand, creative communications, and data, as well as PR, and social among others. 

“Alongside the team, I’m looking forward to developing integrated strategies that deliver great work, meaningful impact for brands, and results across the board. With such great brands in the Havas Creative Group, the opportunities are plentiful,” added Taylor.

Meanwhile, Havas Group ANZ’s Chairman Anthony Freedman shared Taylor joined Host as a young, but talented brand planner and immediately made an impact, playing a key role in the agency’s success and a long list of effectiveness awards. 

“In the many years since, he’s become a completely integrated strategic thinker, a canny spotter of emerging talent, a much-respected agency leader, and a very dear friend. I don’t know why we didn’t give Olly this broader role years ago. It’s long overdue and much deserved,” said Freedman.

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.

India – The Group Chief Strategy Officer of MullenLowe Lintas Group in India, S. Subramanyeswar (Subbu), has been elevated to now assume the same position for the whole APAC division of the company. Subbu will now take both roles as he continues to lead the strategy for brands at the India team. 

Subbu joined Lowe Lintas in 2011 as a national planning director. Since then, he has led major strategic thoughts or shifts for multiple brands across the clients that the group works on in India. The most notable is his thought-leading and breakthrough ‘Brands to Stands’ philosophy, methodology and frameworks that have been adopted by many of the brands that the agency steers in India. 

James Fox, the global chief strategy officer for the whole MullenLowe Group, is confident of the elevation, describing the new APAC CSO as one of the finest marketing minds in the region. 

“He is a true leader for his team and his clients, helping them achieve new heights professionally and commercially. I am very proud to have Subbu as part of the global planning council, leading MullenLowe Group’s strategic charge across Asia Pacific countries,” said Fox. 

Meanwhile, Virat Tandon, the group CEO of MullenLowe Lintas Group, shared that in the 10 years of having worked together, Subbu has played a huge role in not just improving and innovating the planning product, but also in forging strong partnerships with colleagues at the agency, clients and academia. 

“Having worked very closely with him over the last 10 years, I have to say that he is clearly one of the top brand strategists in the world. I am extremely happy that Subbu will take his amazing brand of strategic planning beyond South Asia and into all of Asia Pacific,” commented Tandon.

Subbu has spent over two decades in advertising and marketing, having worked at Wipro, Publics, Rediffusion Y&R, and Saatchi & Saatchi in the markets of India, US, and UK. He has authored and won 131 awards at prestigious award-giving bodies such as India Effies, APAC Effies, Global Effies, as well as Asian Marketing Effectiveness, WARC, and the globally distinguished Jay Chiat by 4A’s. Aside from being on the receiving end, he has also been a jury of each of the mentioned organizations. 

Subbu is also a regular columnist and passionate academic, being a visiting faculty at top business schools IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore in India and the renowned Kellogg School of Management, Illinois and MIT Sloan, Boston in the US.

On the new appointment, Subbu himself commented, “I’m honored, humbled and fired up. It’s a huge opportunity and that’s very exciting. At the same time, I’m also grounded on the challenges that lie ahead. And it is that trip and the constraint that also brings out the passion and fierce obsession in me, to do great culture-leading work. I’ll take the rich learning that I had in my ten years at MullenLowe Lintas Group – India, an ecosystem or the fulcrum of marketing, forward.”

Subbu will be based in Mumbai, India, as he takes up the Asia Pacific charge with immediate effect.

MullenLowe Lintas Group in India is among the largest country operations of the global MullenLowe Group that has agencies and presence in 65 markets. The India unit has two creative agencies under its management – Lowe Lintas and Mullen Lintas.

Australia – DDB Group’s interactive agency Tribal Australia has recently appointed Colin Jowell, former director of innovation agency KPMG UDKU in Australia, to be its first-ever chief strategy officer, to strengthen the agency’s strategic capabilities and credentials. 

Jowell brings with him over 20 years of experience in the industry. He has previously worked in management consulting firm KPMG in 2018 following its acquisition of UDKU, an innovation agency he co-founded in 2013. UDKU is one of the early pioneers of brand-led customer experience design, notably launching Airtasker in its first major campaign, 

Jowell has also led the strategy department at media company M&C Saatchi for several years in South Africa, Malaysia, and Australia. He has also worked with blue-chip clients, such as health insurance agency Medibank, financial services companies AMP and Commonwealth Bank, and The Star and David Jones on CX innovation projects

Commenting on his appointment, Jowell said, “I’ve been a long-time admirer of the DDB group – their work, their talented people, and most importantly, their culture. Tribal has been behind some of the best recent examples of brands that not only deliver their promise through customer experience but deliver exceptional commercial results for their clients. To join an agency as they are expanding their already impressive track record of growth, creativity and impact are incredibly exciting.” 

Meanwhile, David Rennie, the managing director of Tribal Australia, also shared, “Tribal has gone through enormous change over the last couple of years. We’re focused on creativity, and we have some stellar work to show for it. Now, as we get closer to our partners and solve further upstream, we are adding serious credentials to our strategic offering. Colin brings a wealth of brand and experience knowledge, and will be the key to unlocking Total Experience in Australia and the Asia Pacific.”

The agency has also announced that it has turned its attention to rolling out a new global delivery model this year, known as Total Experience, which is made up of five expert practices that can stand apart or snap together, including customer experience, spark innovation, and technical engineering, as well as create, and business consultancy.

India – Healthcare-focused advertising agency Medulla Communications has appointed Rajesh Mehta to be its new chief strategy officer.

Mehta brings in over 25 years of experience across India and the SEA region. He previously worked as the head of strategic planning for media agency Triton Communication, the national planning director for advertising firm Contract Advertising, and vice president and strategic planning director for marketing communications brand J. Walter Thompson. 

Mehta has also worked with brands such as food manufacturer Kellogg’s, dairying company Fonterra, and medical device company Johnson & Johnson, as well as private banking company HDFC Bank, among others. He has created award-winning ideas which were recognized by juries across the world.

Commenting on his appointment, Mehta said, “While I have worked on many consumer health brands, I believe that this is an area with a lot of potential and a huge impact on consumers’ lives. Being part of a specialist healthcare agency can help me meaningfully contribute, with better solutions”.

Meanwhile, Praful Akali, the founder and managing director of Medulla Communications, shared, “I welcome Rajesh Mehta to Medulla Communications and am confident that his leadership experience along with his industry experience and approach will assist in solidifying Medulla’s core values i.e. to make healthcare communications more consumer-friendly.”

Singapore – Media measurement and data analytics platform DoubleVerify has announced Doug Campbell, former chief strategy officer at video management platform Telaria, as its new chief strategy officer, where he will be responsible for the company’s global strategy and corporate development.

Campbell brings into the company more than two decades of experience successfully growing public and private companies in the arenas of advertising technology, connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) video, digital measurement, data analytics, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). 

At Telaria, he oversaw the successful merger with digital advertising infrastructure company Rubicon Project and the acquisition of video advertising platform SpotX to form Magnite, an independent sell-side platform.

Furthermore, he was formerly the chief operating officer at data management platform eXelate where he led the sale of the company to data and market measurement firm Nielsen and went on to serve as Nielsen’s senior vice president of global strategy and corporate development, where he oversaw strategic acquisitions in digital media and consumer measurement. Prior to eXelate, he was an entrepreneur and held various leadership positions at local digital media company, WorldNow. Campbell began his career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. 

“DoubleVerify has taken the lead in providing sophisticated measurement solutions that power media quality and performance in virtually every media environment – including priority, high growth channels like CTV. I look forward to leveraging my industry experience to help strengthen our leadership position globally and accelerate company growth,” Campbell said, regarding his appointment.

He will report to Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify.

“From Magnite to Nielsen, he has demonstrated a track record of success and achievement, and brings exceptional experience and knowledge to the Chief Strategy Officer role. I look forward to Doug’s leadership as we continue to build momentum, expand globally and deliver on our mission to build a stronger, safer and more secure digital advertising ecosystem,” Zagorski stated.