Singapore – Interpublic group agency Golin welcomes Ian Willoughby as director within the agency’s healthcare practice, Golin Health in Singapore.
Located in Singapore, Willoughby will work across Golin branded agencies, and will be responsible for building the healthcare offering.
With healthcare communications expertise over 25 years, Willoughby has worked within major pharmaceutical companies, communications and medical education businesses in Singapore, the UK and Australia.
He was previously a general manager at McCann Health in Singapore, possessing an experience across a wide range of specialist, general practice and consumer health areas that led the development of award-winning and highly effective campaigns.
Willoughby’s industry experience has also seen him serve as chairman of the Healthcare Communications Council in Australia, helping to provide leadership in effective healthcare advertising and communications.
Speaking on his appointment, Willoughby said, “I’m very happy to be part of the Golin team, adding to their experience across APAC, and globally. Creating impactful, purposeful programmes around health and wellness is vitally important to enhance community understanding and create change, ultimately improving health outcomes. This is what we will be helping all our clients to achieve.”
Meanwhile, Darren Burns, president of Golin APAC, commented, “We are so glad to have Ian at the helm of Golin Health in Singapore. He brings a unique insight into the opportunities and challenges faced by healthcare brands, catalysing new thinking into how we propel positive change for our clients”.
Tag: Golin
United Kingdom – Despite the rising popularity of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, it still generates an unrealistic view of everyday activities. In the specific topic of exercising, AI models generate images that depict unrealistic depictions of exercise benefits, often showing persons with extreme physiques.
In response to this, global sportswear brand ASICS has worked with creative agency GOLIN to launch an AI training programme to help teach AI that the real power of exercise is about transforming the mind.
The campaign tapped AI expert Omar Karim, to create the AI Training programme – a bank of images of real people enjoying exercise for the feeling, not aesthetics, combined with bespoke lines of code and AI prompts. Helping any AI system learn what exercise really looks like.
Moreover, ASICS is publicly calling on leading AI platforms to use the AI training programme to teach their AI tools what normal exercise looks and feels like – ending unrealistic and damaging depictions.
For Karim, while it is exciting that AI can be used in so many interesting ways, it is also extremely important that it’s taught to accurately represent the world and people around us. He added that as AI learns from years of content shared online, what we are looking at is today’s equivalent of airbrushing, only it’s being done automatically and without human judgement.
“I’m really excited to be working with ASICS on this project and impressed by the action they’re taking. I hope this is just the start of brands looking to shape AI in a truly progressive way,” he said.
Alex Wood, executive creative director at Golin said, “AI’s warped understanding reflects what the online world teaches it – and us – about healthy exercise and bodies. Exercise elitism is everywhere, and it’s damaging. In response, we loved the idea of an exercise training program for something without a physical body – fuelled by more inclusive, happier and realistic exercise images. The results prove that the training program works – we now hope AI companies start using it to shape the future.”
Meanwhile, Gary Raucher, EVP for ASICS EMEA, commented, “At ASICS, we’ve always believed in the benefit of exercise, not just on the body, but also on the mind. And in today’s society, we know the uplifting power of exercise is needed more than ever. When we discovered that popular AI image-generating tools were creating unrealistic depictions of people who exercised, demotivating people to the point of exclusion from exercise, we were compelled to take action.”
The public has a key role to play too in this campaign as ASICS is inviting the public to share an image of themselves exercising on social with the hashtag #TrainingAI and tagging them on social media. After confirmation, each image will be added to the bank and used to train their AI.
Singapore – Global public relations agency Golin has launched an AI incubator called ‘SPARK’ in order to help the agency conceptualise creative content using AI platforms. Said incubator is designed to diversify ideation, elevate storytelling, and mobilise content delivery for the agency across APAC.
Initiated by Golin’s Creative Intelligence Unit in Singapore, SPARK explores artificial intelligence platforms including ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Dall.E as a starting point for strategic planning and creative ideation.
The team is also working with custom artificial intelligence (AI) platform developers in Asia to explore the potential of this technology for the communications industry.
With prior experience harnessing AI for sentiment analysis and predictive analytics, the Creative Intelligence Unit’s newest initiative expands the role of AI technology across three core areas namely ideation diversification, storytelling elevation, and content delivery mobilisation.
The Creative Intelligence Unit is composed of data storytellers and creative technologists across Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei that work closely with client teams and integrated media teams.
Shouvik Prasanna Mukherjee, who was appointed as chief creative officer for Asia-Pacific at Golin, and heads the agency’s Creative Intelligence Unit, said, “Artificial Intelligence is the latest tool that’ll frame the next chapter of our evolution and how we utilise it will define our future. When stones or ideas collide, there is a spark that ignites the drive for change. SPARK will shape our ‘future of work’ in creative intelligence that is both hi-tech and high-touch.”
Meanwhile, Darren Burns, president for Asia-Pacific at Golin, commented, “SPARK unlocks impact for us as an agency but also for our clients, people and the industry. Brands come to us wanting to create change that makes an impact, and that’s exactly what SPARK stands for – being on the front line of innovation around AI.”
Hong Kong – Interpublic Group’s public relations agency Golin has elevated Lottie Longford, former director at Golin Hong Kong, to step into the newly-created role of director of marketing and communications for APAC.
During her stint as director at Golin Hong Kong, Longford has led the team’s health & wellness accounts, having transferred from the agency’s London location in 2016. She has also previously held executive roles at PR agencies Surgery Group and Katch PR.
In her new role, Longford will be handling Golin’s agency brands – Golin and DeVries Global, to regionally drive brand positioning and initiatives for both, working closely with global, APAC, and market leaders. She will be reporting directly to Simon Ruparelia, Golin’s head of growth, and Darren Burns, Golin’s president for APAC.
Commenting on her elevation, Longford said that across her past eight years at Golin, she has always been energised by the smart, creative work they do, and is proud of what they stand for – as well as admiring the innovation and achievements of the DeVries Global teams.
“I’m excited to bring my experience and ideas to the role in amplifying our work and people,” she added.
Burns shared that Longford is one of their key business leaders in Hong Kong and someone who has a palpable passion for their industry.
“In her new role, she will help shape our growth by communicating to talent, clients and the wider industry about the change we drive in Asia,” said Burns.
Singapore – Golin, a public relations agency under the umbrella of the Interpublic Group (IPG) has appointed Shouvik Prasanna Mukherjee as the new chief creative officer for the agency in its APAC operations, where he will be responsible in leading Golin’s data-driven, earned-first creative ideas to inspire and create change for clients across the region.
Mukherjee brings over 16 years of experience across advertising and public relations disciplines to this role and is a sought-after thought leader. He regularly speaks at industry conferences, engages in mentorship programmes and delivers guest lectures at multiple universities in Singapore. Mukherjee has been a member of the jury for industry awards including the Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia and the SABRE Awards.
In his new role, Mukherjee’s first point of business will be to shape and grow a global creative team across the agency’s markets in Asia Pacific to deliver ideas that earn attention, build businesses and deliver exceptional client results.
In addition, He will oversee the firm’s conceptual creators, graphic designers and content production teams for the region, and he will take an active role in building the data analytics capabilities in Singapore where he previously held the role of executive creative director since 2015.
Speaking about his appointment, he said, “Earning attention requires brave creativity that is culturally relevant and fuelled by insights and analytics. It delivers business results, as well as inspires awe, breaks stereotypes, and basically blows the mind. I’m excited to expand this incredible team so we can service more clients across the region with bold ideas.”
He will be reporting to Darren Burns, president for Asia Pacific at Golin. In addition to his chief creative officer role, Mukherjee will continue to lead the data, analytics and content team in Singapore.
“Shouvik has been an integral part of the Golin team for over a decade, leading multiple award-winning campaigns. He will bring unparalleled energy and passion to drive growth by focussing on regional collaboration and earned-first creative ideas,” Burns stated.
Mukherjee has conceptualized and executed award-winning campaigns for Golin clients including Guinness, Heineken, McDonald’s, Magnum, Nespresso, Panasonic, Porsche and Twitter.