India – Mumbai-based brand and communications consultancy Tilt Brand Solutions has named former Leo Burnett executive creative director Kushager Tuli as its new president – creative.

In his new role, Tuli brings a distinctive mix of creativity, strategic insight, and leadership. An engineering graduate, he has 18 years of advertising experience with agencies including Ogilvy, McCann, and JWT.

Before joining Tilt Brand Solutions, Tuli worked with integrated teams on brands such as Coca-Cola, Nescafe, The Times of India, BMW, Mastercard, Star Sports, Tata Motors, Perfetti, HUL, Pepsi, and Visa. His work has received recognition at both national and international levels.

Speaking on his appointment, Tuli said, “Tilt is already doing some industry benchmark-worthy work, and I hope to add even more depth and value to our clients and our creative showcase. In an ever-changing comms landscape, being able to craft brave, engaging and compelling stories across formats and platforms is something that I’m excitedly looking forward to doing with the rest of the fabulous folks here at Tilt.”

Tuli will report to Adarsh Atal, group chief creative officer at Tilt Brand Solutions.

Adal shared, “Kushager joins us to not just bolster our creative team but also to add to our carefully crafted culture. His proven record as a leader is exactly what we need, given the myriad and strong creative talent we have and nurture at Tilt. With his diversity of experience and expertise across agencies and brands, I’m certain that Kushager will help us take our creative product to newer heights.”

Indonesia – Cheil Indonesia has announced the appointment of Fajar NF as its new executive creative director, marking a significant move as the agency continues to enhance its creative leadership. 

As the newly appointed ECD, Fajar will spearhead Cheil Indonesia’s creative direction, overseeing the agency’s diverse portfolio while driving its mission to deliver innovative and impactful campaigns. His ability to blend creativity with data-driven insights will play a crucial role in enhancing the agency’s regional standing and ensuring its continued success in the competitive market.

With over 21 years of creative leadership at top-tier agencies across Indonesia, Fajar has crafted award-winning, culturally resonant campaigns for leading global brands. His impressive portfolio boasts prestigious accolades, including a Grand Prix at Citra Pariwara, multiple AdFest awards, and a Yellow Pencil at D&AD.

Before joining Cheil, Fajar served as senior creative director at Innocean Indonesia, where he worked with a diverse range of brands across sectors like technology, smartphones, automotive, banking, and FMCG, delivering campaigns recognised both locally and internationally. He also spent 14 years at Hakuhodo Indonesia, further honing his creative expertise.

Commenting on his appointment, Fajar said, “I am thrilled to join Cheil Indonesia at such an exciting time. This is an incredible opportunity to contribute to the agency’s legacy of creative excellence and develop campaigns that connect brands with audiences in meaningful ways.”

Joo Hwan Kim, president director at Cheil Indonesia, also shared, “Fajar’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the agency as we continue to expand and enhance our creative output. His expertise in crafting culturally impactful campaigns and his passion for innovation will be integral to our success as we look to elevate our creative offering and strengthen our position in the market.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – With the launch of the Astro Originals series ‘Project; Exit’, Talon Creative has collaborated with Astro to create an AI-powered initiative that aims to empower and provide support for those in need via positive social media engagement. 

Bringing together the power of generative AI, the stars of ‘Project; Exit’ and Astro’s social media presence, Talon created a way for Mierul Aiman and Shasha Abedul to give moral support to those in need directly on social media.

To achieve this, a social listening system identified posts expressing sadness, frustration, and anxiety. By leveraging proprietary AI technology trained on the cast members’ voice recordings and footage, we are able to generate custom responses that mimic their style and tone. These personalised messages aimed to provide support and encouragement to those in need. 

With up to 50 responses a day, the initiative created a meaningful impact, allowing social media users to see that they were not alone. This resulted in #ProjectExit 2-episode drop accumulating a total of 3.2k mentions, contributed by 1.2k authors, to date. 

The AI initiative attracted praises from netizens as Hadi and Jannah comforted those in need with personalised words of encouragement. Influencers were also seen interacting with the AI, reacting in surprise that AI could be leveraged for the good of mental health awareness. Moreover, all of this resulted in an outpouring of netizens speaking about their battles and the battles of those close to them. 

Tai Kam Leong, chief sales and marketing officer at Astro, said, “We’re excited to introduce this new initiative to support Project; Exit which uses A.I. in a relevant way to foster positive social interactions. We believe that content can go beyond the screen and it can have an uplifting effect on people’s lives. By leveraging the crossroads of content, celebrity and technology, we hope to inspire young audiences and support the community at large.”

Meanwhile, Gavin Teoh, managing director at Talon Creative, commented, “Project; Exit addresses some tough issues that many Malaysians are facing and we saw an opportunity to go beyond just telling stories and actually reach out to the audience to show that they were not alone.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Local public relations and strategic communications consultancy Perspective Strategies has announced the launch of its new strategic and creative arm, P³. Through this new practice, Perspective Strategies will supplement its existing expertise with an expanded range of services including brand visual strategy and development, experience design, employee engagement and, sustainability consultancy.

Heading P³ is industry veteran and specialist Matthew Mendelsohn, who joins the firm as director of brands and business advisory. Matthew brings over two decades of leadership experience in branding, innovation, and operational performance across Southeast Asia including extensive work partnering with top global brands and groups such as Rolex, LVMH, Richemont, Fossil Group and Apple. 

Prior to joining Perspective Strategies, Matthew spent nearly 15 years at Indonesian retailer Time International, managing a portfolio of 16 brands including Fossil, Michael Kors, Diesel, Kate Spade, adidas and Rip Curl.

Speaking on his new role, Matthew said, “’Im very excited to work with Perspective Strategies to expand our range of offerings and to provide new ideas and expertise based on my experience in the retail, not-for-profit and hospitality industries.  Perspective Strategies has long been a leader in Malaysia, providing top-level communications and PR expertise to its clients.”

He added, “The firm’s prominent position in the local market as well as the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) is a testament to its focus on being a world-class agency. I am excited for our team to leverage our knowledge of best practices from around the region to enable us to deliver a unique set of solutions to our clients.”

The creation of P³ addresses the growing need of companies and brands to communicate with multiple stakeholders through an ever-expanding array of channels and touchpoints.  P³ is focused on providing brands with solutions that are purposeful, people-focused and pragmatic, ensuring that communications reflect the client’s unique purpose with an eye on improving their business results. 

Meanwhile, Andy See, principal partner and managing director at Perspective Strategies, commented, “Consumers, employees and communities  are increasingly seeking brands that resonate with their values. P³ was started to help brands navigate today’s volatile and complex environment by ensuring their communications are intentional, people-centric, and pragmatic. With Matthew at the helm, we’re confident P³ will drive new growth and client base for the firm. We are expanding our suite of services towards meeting new needs that arise in the dynamic shifting marketplace.”

New York, USA – Getty Images has announced an integration with TikTok to meet the diverse creative needs of marketers and advertisers. The integration allows advertisers and businesses direct access to Getty Images’ vast library of creative imagery and video content through TikTok’s AI-powered video generation tool, Symphony Creative Studio.

By integrating Getty Images’ premium creative content directly into TikTok’s Symphony Creative Studio, users can effortlessly craft TikTok-first ads and organic content that feels native to the platform and increases performance.

The integration with Getty Images is part of a wider expansion of TikTok’s tools, including Symphony Creative Studio, which aims to support advertisers and content creators with capabilities to make the TikTok creative production process easier and more efficient, bridging the gap between ideation and production.

With Getty Images’ unparalleled creative library at their fingertips, TikTok advertisers can push creative boundaries and deliver content that captivates and inspires, enhancing the overall impact of their advertising campaigns. As a result, businesses can achieve greater visibility, foster deeper connections with viewers, and ultimately drive higher conversion rates.

Peter Orlowsky, SVP of global strategic partnerships at Getty Images, said, “With the surge in demand for authentic storytelling in advertising, the need for captivating, high-quality content to convey these stories effectively to audiences has never been greater. At Getty Images, we take pride in empowering advertisers to streamline their creative processes.”

He added, “This collaboration offers seamless integration into TikTok’s Symphony Creative Studio, giving brands and businesses direct access to our vast library of millions of premium images and videos, ensuring they can create powerful, engaging TikTok-first content with ease.”

Andy Yang, head of monetization creative product at TikTok, commented, “At TikTok, we aim to empower advertisers and help them connect with their communities with the power of generative AI. Partnering with Getty Images unlocks a new avenue for marketers to scale their content and drive performance with commercially safe content globally. We are continuously building creative solutions that spark joy, imagination and action.”

Singapore – Effective 1 November, Leverate Group will take over creative and social media management scope for Southeast Asia, as well as spearheading the end-of-year festive campaign for Häagen-Dazs. 

Leverate Group, with its headquarter in Jakarta, Indonesia, has been tasked to lead social media strategy and creative development for Häagen-Dazs in 3 key markets: Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. 

“Social media is an important communication channel for Häagen-Dazs to reach our target audiences and what Leverate team has brought to the table shows their deep understanding of the channels which will help us drive further engagements with them” said Tya Close, head of marketing of SEA at General Mills

On top of the social media scope, Leverate Group will also develop 2024’s festive campaign strategy and creative development, through an omnichannel approach. 

“We are very excited and honoured to be able to work with one of the legendary brands for this region. Häagen-Dazs is known for its relentless pursuit and dedication to making the best ice cream for their fans, therefore we will put our best efforts into bringing those brand experiences to  life in a refreshing and innovative way,” said Monica Hynds, MD of Leverate Group, Singapore

California, USA – Adobe has split its global creative mandate, namely Dentsu Creative as its lead global scaled creative and content agency for its Digital Media Business (DMe), and Stagwell will lead the global creative campaigns and social content mandate for Adobe’s DMe.

Together, Dentsu Creative, Tag Worldwide and Adobe will redefine advertising by driving personalisation at scale through a robust Gen AI-powered content supply chain. Meanwhile, Stagwell and Adobe will also partner on a joint go-to-market initiative to accelerate the content supply chain for brands, the end-to-end process used to deliver content for marketing campaigns and personalised customer experiences. 

Transcending a traditional creative remit, Dentsu Creative will architect the company’s first ‘glocal’ go-to-market model, designed to drive relevance, effectiveness and efficiency both globally and locally across key regions–the Americas, EMEA, APAC and Japan. On the other hand, 

Dentsu Creative will also lead product and release marketing and local campaigns for the company’s B2B and B2C creative products and services. Underpinning the relationship is a unified global technology backbone, enabled by Adobe’s integrated set of best-in-class products to help companies optimise their content supply chain, and proprietary technologies from Dentsu Digital and Tag Worldwide.

Over at Stagwell’s side, 72andSunny will expand their seven-year partnership with Adobe by leading global creative and strategy within this new model. Movers+Shakers will lead global social efforts, with a focus on mining cultural conversations in real-time and producing socially-native content with speed and agility. Code and Theory will be responsible for the launch of Adobe GenStudio, among additional high-profile assignments.

Abbey Klaassen, global brand president at Dentsu Creative, said, “As a creative team that has long relied on Adobe’s products and services to imagine, create and bring digital experiences to life, this new partnership is meaningful in so many ways. We’re energised by Adobe’s vision to change the world through personalized experiences, and this fueled us to bring transformative thinking and creativity to every interaction. Now, we’re ready to bring that to customers everywhere through Adobe’s Digital Media Business.”

Meanwhile, Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of Stagwell, commented, “We are proud to join forces with Adobe, a brand synonymous with creativity and innovation, to build game-changing transformation tools for our clients and theirs. This partnership is another example of the value Stagwell is eager to create with clients via our integrated offering, and we are excited to bring our best-in-class creativity and technology to help Adobe inspire and empower their customers.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Marketing transformation agency GrowthOps Asia has strategically elevated its creative and performance teams with key appointments and promotions. 

Chee Heng Look is promoted to associate creative director, while Sann Dee Ng is promoted to creative group head, and Thomas Chiew and Belinda Hon join as new creative group heads.

Moreover, Gillian Lim and Nicole Wong are promoted to senior account executive roles, with new hires include Nailul Aini as senior account director and Nicklaus Lam as account director

Lastly, Aiman Musbri is now head of paid media, Brandon Yap is programmatic media lead, with Namrata Kadam and Himanshu Patel advancing to associate director and manager of the SEO team, respectively.

Adzam Bahrin, regional creative director at GrowthOps, said, “These promotions and key hires in the creative team signals how we’re moving forward with strong and experienced individuals who will help us deliver unforgettable work for our clients. It’s also our aim to nurture the next generation of creative leaders.”

Meanwhile, Chris Greenough, general manager of Malaysia and regional head of creative services, commented, “We have been successful at attracting talent from larger network agencies with more traditional backgrounds and integrating them into our digital-first mindset. This ensures we have the capabilities to execute large 360 campaigns while maintaining our digital-first agility and thinking.”

Shaad Hamid, regional head of performance and general manager of Singapore, commented, “As we expand our team and services, our focus remains on aligning our structure with the unique strengths and expertise that our people bring to the table. By prioritising technology, talent development, and team dynamics, we ensure that our growth not only reflects our evolving capabilities but also positions us to consistently exceed client expectations across all digital media channels.”

Together, these strengthened teams underscore the company’s commitment to delivering exceptional marketing and technology solutions and solidify its position as an industry leader. By strengthening these core capabilities, GrowthOps Asia aims to drive even greater success for its clients.

Bangkok, Thailand – YDM Thailand Group has appointed Anuwat Nitipanont as chief creative officer, where he will spearhead creative initiatives for both FCB Bangkok and MullenLowe Bangkok.

Nitipanont brings over 20 years of creative leadership to the role, where he will oversee the creative department, social content, influencer marketing, and production. Renowned for his innovative yet straightforward approach, Nitipanont is dedicated to crafting impactful solutions that benefit people, brands, and society.

Recognised for driving innovative solutions that create impact for business and society, Nitipanont’s appointment will ensure strategic alignment and seamless integration of services across all companies in the group. 

Nitipanont joined YDM Thailand in July 2024 from VML, where he was chief creative officer for Thailand. During his impactful tenure, he played a key role in significantly expanding the client portfolio across diverse industries within a year, setting a record-breaking winning ratio for the company. Additionally, he successfully doubled the size of the creative department.

Prior to VML, Nitipanont also served as chief creative officer at BBDO Bangkok, where he led the agency to multiple Agency of the Year accolades. 

Throughout his distinguished career, Nitipanont has won over 300 awards at international and local advertising shows. He has served as a jury member for prominent events like MAD STARS and CICLOPE, chaired the Adman Awards in 2019 and 2022, and led Thailand’s Young Lions competition for eight years, nurturing top young Thai talent for Cannes. 

Tanapon Subsomboon, CEO of YDM Thailand, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Anuwat into our ranks. As a pioneer in Thailand’s advertising industry, he has been instrumental in transforming agencies and leading them to top industry accolades. With his wealth of experience, Anuwat will help us elevate our ability to integrate strategy, data, and creativity to unlock business growth for our network. I have no doubt his visionary leadership will drive creative excellence in our team and reinforce our position as a leading agency in the region.” 

Singapore – Edelman Singapore has appointed Daniel Ko as its new executive creative director to spearhead the firm’s creative team and offerings in Singapore. 

In this role, Ko will bring his breadth of specialist experience to deliver Edelman’s brand of earned creative value for a diverse portfolio of clients. He will join the firm’s Singapore leadership team led by CEO Julia Wei and will be part of Edelman’s regional creative community led by APAC chief creative officer Tim Green

With over two decades of experience, Ko has gained acclaim for his innovative campaigns for Income, Google, POSB, DBS, Heineken, Tiger Beer, GIC, and HPB. His work has been recognised on local, regional, and global platforms. Additionally, he has contributed to elevating Singapore’s marketing industry standards by serving as a judge at prestigious local award shows, including The Gongs, Hall of Fame, and Crowbars.

Ko joins Edelman Singapore from Accenture Song, where he served as creative director for two years. Leading the tech-powered creative group, he spearheaded transformative campaigns that addressed business challenges through integrated solutions in advertising, branding, digital, PR & activation, marketing strategy, and innovation.

His previous roles include group creative director at 72 and Sunny, creative director at The Secret Little Agency, and creative group head at Iris Worldwide. He has also held key creative positions at renowned agencies, including BBH, DDB, and Publicis. 

Speaking on the appointment, Green said, “Ko’s impressive creative career involves a unique blend of storytelling, story-doing, branding, and business transformation—all skills critical in an era of ‘Trust in Crisis’, when attention alone isn’t enough to mobilise audiences. We are thrilled to welcome him aboard Edelman as we forge ahead to unlock the power of earned creativity to change the world.”

Also commenting on his new role, Ko shared, “I am thrilled to join Edelman Singapore to contribute to its continued innovation and growth. Edelman has consistently pushed the boundaries of creative excellence and set new standards for earned creativity. I look forward to joining this talented community to craft compelling, transformative, and effective programmes that help our clients win with their audiences.”

Edelman Singapore is home to over 120 consultants and serves as one of four global hubs for the network. This year, the firm recorded its strongest showing at The Cannes Lions Awards 2024, winning a Titanium Lion, four Gold Lions, six Silver Lions and five Bronze Lions for nine separate client campaigns from EMEA, North America and APAC.