Tag: ECD

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.”

Malaysia – The Malaysia team of communications network Grey has appointed two deputy executive creative directors to boost its creative team. Heng Thang Wei has been elevated to the position of creative director, while Jeremy Yeoh, joins the team from Naga DDB Tribal. All of Grey Malaysia’s clients including Telekom Malaysia, Unifi, Volvo, and Coway will now be handled by the newly appointed leaders, and both will be reporting to chief creative officer Graham Drew.

The move follows 18 months of continued growth for Grey Malaysia. Since 2014, Heng Thang Wei has worked for Grey Malaysia as a senior art director joining from Leo Burnett. Since that time, Heng Thang Wei has grown to lead his own team – heading up the Coway and Lenovo accounts and playing a fundamental role in international award-winning work for Tesco and WWF.

Meanwhile, Yeoh boasts a 15-year career journey from Naga DDB Tribal, where he was a creative director heading work for KFC, Prudential and Wonda Coffee.

On his appointment, Heng Thang Wei said, “Has it been 7 years? What!? I’ve learned so much during my time here and we’ve achieved things that we never thought possible on the global creative stage. Now that I’ve seen what’s possible, I’m only hungry for more and with Jeremy on board we can do even greater work.” 

Meanwhile, Yeoh shared, “Moving up to ECD is a big step, something I did not take lightly, but my ambitions to create big, impactful work found a good home here. If the photoshoot is anything to go by, Thang and I already have a great synergy.”

Drew commented, “Thang has been an irreplaceable wingman throughout my time at Grey. With so much energy and talent, it’s with genuine pride that I’ve seen him grow into the creative leader he is today. Jeremy is a talent that’s been on my radar for such a long time, from the culturally defining work on KFC to societal causes such as the ‘Nursery Crimes’ work.

“The prospect of having two such creative minds working together and sparking off each other as a team is so exciting – these two can only push us even higher,” Drew adds.

Singapore – TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the Los Angeles-headquartered creative agency solely dedicated to Apple, has named a new executive creative director for the Asia-Pacific region, Kenny Blumenschein. Blumenschein was most recently from advertising agency Energy BBDO, and before that, worked for Facebook as its creative strategist for the Greater China Region for almost three years.

TBWA\Media Arts Lab currently operates in 25 markets globally, with five regional hubs outside its HQ—London, Miami, Singapore, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The agency solely creates work for the tech and smartphone giant Apple.

As the new ECD for APAC, Blumenschein will be based out of the Singapore hub and will be partnering with Managing Director, Michaela Futcher and reporting into Global Chief Creative Officer, Brent Anderson.

At Energy BBDO, Blumenschein held the same role of ECD alongside being the agency’s senior vice president. During his time there, he notably worked on the award-winning Wrigley’s ‘For when it’s time’ campaign. Meanwhile, at Facebook, he assisted global brands in crafting their stories and reaching business objectives through Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, according to his LinkedIn.

Blumenschein said that joining Media Arts Lab is a no-brainer as he always had a ‘crush’ on the agency.

“It’s a very rare opportunity to work on such an iconic brand with the smartest and nicest people in our industry. To do this in APAC, which is one of the most diverse, fastest-growing, and exciting regions is a further privilege,” he said.

Blumenschein is of Thai and German descent. He has amassed experience across multiple continents, including Europe, North America, and Asia, bringing with him valuable global perspective to his work. Aside from his most recent roles at Energy BBDO and Facebook, he also previously held posts at Ogilvy as ECD Digital & Content, and as head of creative at VMLY&R. Back in Germany, Kenny has also spent time at BBDO and Isobar.

In the new role, he will be working with teams stretching across the APAC, from India to Australia, to develop business building and culture-defining work for one of the world’s most recognizable global brands.

Futcher commented, “This part of the world couldn’t be more important to us, and ensuring that we have the creative firepower to deliver on our ambitions has been a critical focus. I’m so excited to have found someone of Kenny’s creative caliber, humanity, and experience to help us do that. His background as a ‘cultural chameleon’ is critical to us unlocking the diverse opportunities across a region as vast as APAC.”

Meanwhile, Anderson said, “Kenny is a strategic, innovative, and artful creative leader with great instincts and taste. He’s led dynamic, modern teams across agencies both in Asia and North America. He’s spearheaded cultural, integrated work that breaks through for challenging clients. Kenny is a creative soul with a reputation of mentoring, building atmospheres wherein creativity thrives and protecting great ideas.”

Singapore – Creative production company MediaMonks Singapore has tapped Joao Flores, former chief creative officer of dentsu International, to be its new executive creative director (ECD) in SEA, Korea, and Japan, supporting its business expansion plan across the APAC region.

The new ECD will be responsible for developing creative partnerships with the company’s clients, as this will help influence teams with a growth mindset across APAC and elevate the standards for creativity in the region.

Prior to his new position, Flores started his journey being in creative leadership at marketing company Cheil Iberia. Through this, his perspective about imaginative narratives and experiences transformed, which also opened his world for a new age of creativity.

He was then responsible to lead Horizon Foote, Cone & Belding’s (FCB) creative vision in the Middle East, which guided him into dentsu in Singapore, where he gained recognition while growing the business, being promoted to Chief Creative Officer.

Commenting on his appointment, Flores said, “We are living in a new age for creativity, the pioneers of that mindset are MediaMonks and S4 Capital. How to structure creative teams at scale in this new era? How to define a new creative identity elevating data and tech? And what does that mean for people, for the ones living those experiences? The passion for the craft, connected ecosystems, and the commitment to create product ideas with a tangible positive impact, that’s the Monks way, that’s my why, and what made this opportunity so appealing to me.”

According to Joris Knetsch, managing director of MediaMonks Singapore, Joao is known for his creative leadership and his disruptive creative process, as well as his vision for integrated ideas which positively impact people, businesses, and culture.

“We share the passion for creative excellence, and I’m excited to start working with Joao. Together with the rest of the MediaMonks team, we are perfectly set up to scale to new heights,” said Knetsch.