Singapore – Camera and social media company Snap has announced the appointment of two new senior creative leads, namely Gareth Leeding, the new head of creative strategy for APAC, and Haran Ramachandran, the new head of creative strategy for ANZ, aimed at driving its commitment to creating best-in-class creative campaigns on the platform.
Leeding has previously held the role of executive creative director at socially-led creative agency We Are Social’s UK office where he built a creative department, co-founded WAS Sport, and won over 70 global awards for work across leading brands including Adidas, Audi, Google, and YouTube, as well as Lego, and Lidl, among others. In his new role, Leeding brings over 18 years of experience, and he will be the first dedicated creative leader in Snap’s APAC team.
Meanwhile, Ramachandran has also relocated from London where he was most recently the creative lead for telco Three Mobile and PR agency The Academy. In his new role, Ramachandran will help develop breakthrough creative campaigns for the ANZ region.
Commenting on his appointment, Leeding said, “I am excited to be joining the Snap team at a time when the APAC community is experiencing such growth. As Snap continues to push the boundaries with AR and the camera, there is immense creative opportunity, so I’m pumped to be leading the APAC region as we redefine what’s possible.”
Ramachandran also said, “We know local consumers are typically cynical of brands, which is why we need to look at ways to engage them in new and exciting ways. The chance to do that on a platform like Snapchat with a great audience and great tech is super exciting.”
Kathryn Carter, Snap’s general manager for APAC, said, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome both Gareth and Haran to our APAC and ANZ teams. Their visionary creative strategy will continue to help our partners create campaigns at a scale that millions of Snapchatters across the region love.”
In 2021, Snap has launched its first-of-its-kind environmental pledge in AR to protect Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which has brought the Hyundai Kona small SUV into millions of Australian living rooms and even partnered with Common Ground to create a series of immersive sleep stories from First Nations storytellers using AR.