Tag: IPG Mediabrands

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – In conjunction with the upcoming Raya season, personal care brand Safi has unveiled its ‘Vass-tacular’ (spectacular) brand film, crafted by the media-fuelled creative content practice within the IPG Mediabrands network, Mediabrands Content Studio (MBCS).

The #SafiRayaSupaVass campaign is anchored on the viral ‘Vass’ catchphrase that translates to looking and feeling spectacular, glamourous, and fabulous, which took the Malaysian female community by storm. This Raya, Safi has transformed Vass into a call of empowerment for women to go all out to embrace their beauty, with the ‘magical touch’ of Safi’s hair care product Shayla SUPA. 

The campaign comes to life in the form of an epic musical titled “Jodoh Syafideralla”, based on the well-known tale of Cinderella, featuring a stellar cast of celebrities such as ongoing Safi ambassador Aniq Suhair, local celebrity Kilafairy, and upcoming content creator Sofea Shaheera who is well known amongst Gen Z’s.

“It truly warms the heart to see our Muslim friends go all out this year in their Raya celebration preparations. As the agency that builds product relevance and resonance with audiences, we wanted to make sure that Safi Shayla Supa would be able to rise on this wave of vass fabulousness, and we have succeeded in doing so with this Raya musical extravaganza,” said Lyndy Tan, associate creative director of MBCS.

Saki Goh, senior general manager of marketing at Wipro Unza also said, “The Raya festivities have been long-awaited, and we have always strived to make our Safi Raya film one of the most anticipated of the season.”

She also added that the MBCS team has captured this first introduction of Shayla SUPA in a ‘catchy, creative and truly vass’ manner in order for the brand to emotionally connect with its female audience.

The #SafiRayaSupaVass: Jodoh Syafideralla is now live on Safi’s official social media channels.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Global media and marketing solutions group IPG Mediabrands has announced the promotion of Cindy Eliza Vaz as its chief digital officer for Malaysia. Vaz has previously worked as the head of digital for Universal McCann in the country.

In her new role, she will be responsible for expanding the digitisation of the group in Malaysia whilst leading the digital transformation to provide a comprehensive suite of qualitative programmatic, performance, and tech solutions. 

Moreover, the group has also promoted Debica Sigamani as its chief technology officer to work closely with the executive leadership team in driving business growth and success.

Bala Pomaleh, chief executive officer at Mediabrands Malaysia, shared that Vaz has played an important role in driving business and digital efforts during her stint at UM.

“Her strengths in digital innovation, strategy, data, and tech capabilities will help us continue to drive digital excellence to meet our clients’ business needs, whilst focusing on transparency, accountability, and brand safety,” Pomaleh added.

Meanwhile, Vaz herself expressed, “I look forward to raising the digital profile of Mediabrands, collaborating closely with UM and Initiative on our digital strategy and empowering clients to be more digitally savvy, while continuing to cultivate an ecosystem that nurtures more mentorship and coaching of young digital talents.” 

Last month, global content studio Mediabrands Content Studio has also appointed Marshall Campbell as its general manager of client service and Luke Simkins as its group creative director.

Sydney, Australia – After a hotly contested pitch, media agency Initiative has retained its media business remit for energy networks owner Jemena Limited, extending a 10-year relationship with the brand. The win also comes with Mediabrands Content Studio (MBCS), a media-fueled content practice of Mediabrands, expanding its creative remit for the same brand.

Initiative will be responsible for all national and local broadcast media buying, print, outdoor, radio, cinema, digital, search, social and addressable, and other media buying such as strategic and communication design responsibilities. Meanwhile, MBCS will handle all creative and production services and executions.

Melissa Fein, CEO of Initiative said that she is thrilled in re-signing a valued long-term partner. She also added that her team is energised in increasing Jemena’s customer base as it expands the network across regional and urban centres throughout New South Wales.

Fein added, “Jemena walks our talk; they are passionate about their customers, ambitious in their plans to decarbonise their networks and totally committed to a sustainable future, all traits Initiative values deeply. And our relationship has just got better with MBCS now on board, they’re an incredibly talented team and our cross-agency collaboration will help us continue to elevate the outstanding work we do on Jemena.”

Retaining its creative remit, Olivia Warren, managing director of MBCS expressed, “Jemena is a fascinating business with so much creative potential. Potential that is greater unlocked by having creative and media harmoniously working together under one roof. It makes collaboration easier, encourages new and gutsy perspectives and ultimately produces world class results for our clients. We can’t wait to get started.”

Meanwhile, Sandra Centofanti, head of strategy & marketing at Jemena Networks added, “Year-on-year Initiative brings fresh, exciting media thinking to the table; they understand our business intimately and deliver consistently strong results. We’re pleased to expand this relationship and onboard MBCS as our creative partners. Their connected approach to creativity and energy for our business was magnetic and we look forward to creating big things together.”

Sydney, Australia – Global media and marketing solutions group IPG Mediabrands has appointed Geoff Clarke as its chief operating officer for Australia. Clarke will retain his chief operating officer role and business growth development responsibilities for Initiative, a global media agency that is also under Mediabrands.

In his expanded role, Clarke will be responsible for driving operational and organisational improvements across the entire group. He will also continue to lead IPG’s transformation agenda throughout APAC while leading the operational integration and working system of Australian businesses. Clarke will also collaborate across the company’s entire client portfolio.

Mark Coad, CEO of Mediabrands Australia said that the expanded leadership role is a timely and well-deserved recognition for Geoff who has successfully led the Group’s transformational agenda.

Coad added, “Geoff is an outstanding leader. While still keeping his fingers 100 percent on the pulse at Initiative, he successfully positioned Mediabrands as an industry leader in the use of automation and BOTs considerably reducing repetitive and menial work and significantly improving the way we work across the entire group.”

In his three-decade media industry career, Clarke has established a background in investment, planning, and media buying. He worked for various agencies in London and eventually obtained a managing director position in Australia in 2013.

In 2015, Clarke started his role in Initiative as a client partner and later on promoted to chief operating officer. He has been instrumental in the agency’s growth and development in Australia.

For his new responsibilities, Clarke commented, “I am going to be busy, but it is an exciting time to be in the industry. My goal is for our clients to engage Mediabrands’ agencies knowing the unique business solutions we offer are fully effective and designed for ambitious growth.  This can only happen when the best operational and procedural innovations are in place and the most talented teams are available to service clients.”

Manila, Philippines – Maya, the newly rebranded and one of the leading financial superapps in the Philippines, has named IPG Mediabrands’ media agency Initiative as its media agency of record. The win followed a multi-agency pitch in October 2022. 

Initiative Philippines will be heading Maya’s integrated media mandate. This includes business analytics, audience understanding, media strategy, planning, offline, and full-funnel digital performance activation for the consumer and business segments of the total Maya portfolio.

“2022 was a tremendous year of brand and business growth as we relaunched from PayMaya to Maya, but the work has only just begun. With even greater ambitions in 2023, we must ensure that all our capabilities across the board are on the cutting edge,” said Pepe Torres, chief marketing officer of Maya.

He also added that Initiative proved to be the right media partner for Maya for being just as invested in its success as they are and being philosophically aligned with their “cultural velocity proposition.”

Paul Atienza, managing partner at Initiative Philippines also said, “Maya is a bold tech maverick that continues to stretch the limits and defy conventions in helping Filipinos make bolder financial choices. We could not be more thrilled to partner with them, driving Cultural Velocity to further protract growth for the Maya brand in years to come.”

Melody Laogan, managing partner at Initiative Philippines added, “This win is a testament to Initiative’s culturally driven and outcome-focused approach to integrated strategic planning. We share the same values with Maya, of being fearless, bold, and progressive. We are excited to raise the bar together.”

Initiative Philippines’ appointment is effective January 2023.

Last May, Paymaya rebranded as Maya with the aim to be known as an all-in-one finance platform for individuals and enterprises. 

Maya Bank’s parent firm Voyager Innovations has also previously boosted its total valuation to unicorn plus status.

Singapore – Global media and marketing solutions group IPG Mediabrands and software development company Scope3 announced a first-of-its-kind industry partnership today, with the aim of measuring and reducing the former’s clients’ carbon footprint from digital advertising.

Mediabrands will be offering their clients emissions measurement, compensation, and reduction capabilities using the standards established by Scope3, while helping increase the capacity of players across the digital ecosystem to decarbonize media emissions at scale.

The partnership will introduce complementary and mutually dependent services that provide a road map to net zero. This includes measurement and reporting of emissions generated by the end user consuming the ad by augmenting Mediabrands’ existing media consumption carbon calculator. 

It will also include using Scope3’s Green Media Products to achieve carbon-neutral campaign activations, as well as leveraging Scope3’s emissions measurement, while Mediabrands initiate dialogue and collaboration across the digital supply chain to promote ad delivery paths optimised to reduce emissions.

“Our partnership with Scope3 is one of many commitments Mediabrands is making to take intentional steps in support of climate action as part of our broader Media for Good efforts,” said Eileen Kiernan, global CEO of Mediabrands.

She added, “For action to be taken, access to accurate data and reporting is an essential first step. Scope3 provides critical insights and information that enable us to make smarter, cleaner investment choices.”

Scope3 CEO and co-founder Brian O’Kelley also commented, “From the beginning of Scope3, Mediabrands has been an incredible partner. They were the first agency network to purchase Green Media Products as part of a decarbonization strategy. They have tirelessly advocated for sustainability with their clients, vendors, and publishers.”

IPG Mediabrands has also partnered with Amplified Intelligence last year, in its efforts to optimise its clients’ media selections.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – IPG Mediabrands has appointed Elina Peek-Lantz, former head of digital strategy and planning at Maxis, to be its new managing director of Reprise, the global performance marketing agency within the Mediabrands network.

Peek-Lantz has 17 years of experience working with international teams in corporate and start-up environments as a highly qualified data-driven marketer. In her new role, she will be responsible for innovating Reprise’s product and service capabilities, and will be working in close collaboration with partner agencies UM and Initiative to drive the strategic direction of performance marketing, analytics, and technology channels across all clients. Peek-Lantz will also be reporting to the CEO of Mediabrands Malaysia, Bala Pomaleh.

Commenting on her new role, Peek-Lantz said, “I’m thrilled to join Mediabrands as we expand the Reprise footprint in Malaysia. The current market landscape has created great opportunities for brands to further amplify their online presence, and the Reprise framework of ‘Customer Flow’ is a perfect launch pad for any business looking to incorporate digital strategies and drive business growth. I look forward to expanding the Reprise service and product portfolio as we focus on creating a seamless customer journey for path to purchase.”

Meanwhile, Pomaleh shared that Peek-Lantz comes with deep knowledge of the changing nuances in their digital marketing ecosystem, and they have seen great strides in these new spaces and have been investing immensely in growth areas such as e-commerce, experience design, and performance content. 

“Elina’s role will have a significant influence over the success of our organisation as she works alongside our leadership teams at UM and Initiative to drive digital strategies and create a safe and responsible media environment across our portfolio of clients,” said Pomaleh.

Pippa Berlocher, president of Reprise APAC, noted, “I’m excited to have Elina join our business. Given her entrepreneurial background and experience, I know she will bring great energy and capabilities that both our team and clients will benefit from. Malaysia remains a key market for us in the APAC region, and I’m looking forward to partnering closely with Elina to elevate the craft excellence within our business and drive growth for both our clients and Mediabrands.”

Singapore – IPG Mediabrands and its intelligence arm MAGNA have unveiled the 4th issue of its signature Media Responsibility Index (MRI 4.0), an initiative that strives to raise industry awareness and standards around harm reduction for brands and consumers in advertising.

The media agency has beefed up its MRI 4.0 with a number of enhancements, starting from the increase in the number of its subjects from 10 social platforms to now more than 150 partners from a variety of media formats across 15 countries. Through this, the media agency said it has transformed the index to now become an actionable toolset.

Further to the changes, the new MRI 4.0 has established four new ESG-aligned priorities for partner accountability.

“We developed our first media responsibility index in 2020 to determine exact protocols of the major platforms, as people started questioning the impact of social media in their lives, from the prevalence of misinformation to hate speech and data-collection practices,” said Elijah Harris, EVP of Global Digital Partnerships & Media Responsibility at MAGNA.

The original MRI, which is a first-of-its kind, was launched in August 2020, in response to concerns about social media platforms not taking steps to acknowledge, measure and reduce their contribution to online and real-world harms.

The newly improved index further allows for teams and clients to incorporate brand and consumer safety priorities into their investment decision-making for a variety of media types, from the largest global social platforms to local broadcast media outlets.

MRI 4.0 has assessed each outlet across four priorities of partner accountability—Safety, Inclusivity, Sustainability and Data Ethics—in alignment with industry-adopted ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) frameworks so businesses can easily extend how they are measuring their impact in these spaces to include media. Previous versions of the MRI had ranked the platforms upon Mediabrands’ 10 Media Responsibility Principles, which are now consolidated within the four priorities.

The 150+ major partners that were surveyed expand into the realms of Broadcast & Cable, Connected TV, Online Video, and Display. Across Broadcast & Cable, the traditional-first networks also span several subsidiary companies across Connected TV and Online Video properties. The findings illuminated that strict, longstanding federal regulations within Broadcast & Cable have had a trickle-down effect on their digital properties, in effect enhancing safety standards when compared to digital-first counterparts surveyed.

Harris added, “We have always believed in the need to bring the lens of media responsibility to a broader set of media types. Consumers digest content and opinions from an ever-increasing list of mediums. It only made sense that this [rigour] we’ve developed for social platforms would be translated for a more diversified mix of media partners. With each iteration, the MRI is becoming more robust and establishing itself as a mainstay in driving industry accountability and powering responsible advertising investment.”

Some of the notable findings of the latest index include how social media platforms showed continued improvement across the four priorities (averaging +3-point in overall performance). It had also been found that Safety is a standout priority for broadcast & cable, based in part on federal industry regulations forcing uniformity and 3rd party enforcement in safety standards – including children’s safety rules and advertising approvals.

Tech-proficient digital-first CTV partners are also now driving higher Data Ethics performance than their traditional-first counterparts, in part due to their origins and operating in a more tech-oriented space, versus a TV-first space.

The index also found that in a mixed marketplace for Sustainability practices, online video platforms showed strength in their ad-business emissions measurement and in setting net-zero goals.

Singapore – Initiative, the media agency under IPG Mediabrands, has appointed Niranjan Singh as its new head of communications in Asia-Pacific. In his new role, he will champion the application of best-practice approaches, techniques and solutions for modern experience design.

In addition, he will drive the connected communications design practice across key clients and sectors for Initiative APAC.

Singh will report to James Smyllie, president of Initiative APAC and is currently based in Mumbai, India prior to transitioning to the Initiative APAC regional headquarters in Singapore. His appointment is effective immediately. 

He has more than 16 years industry experience in strategic media planning and buying, and was previously the head of AOR at Mediacom Indonesia, leading the P&G business for three years.

Prior to that, he spent six years at GroupM, working across leading brands such as Colgate Palmolive, GSK and FrieslandCampina in India and Vietnam.

Speaking on his appointment, Singh said, “I’m thrilled to join Initiative APAC. Initiative’s unique proposition of achieving Cultural Velocity™ in the media-fragmented world to deliver real business growth and success for brands, was the big pull factor for me. I’m super excited to become a part of the team that has been winning Global businesses back-to-back.”

Meanwhile, Smyllie commented, “We are delighted to be attracting talent like Niran to Initiative. This hire reinforces our key focus on enhancing our Craft capabilities across APAC, and driving a consistently world class product throughout the region.”

The new Initiative appointment follows a slew of appointments made by agencies under the IPG Mediabrands company in APAC, namely the appointment of MBCS’ Olivia Warren to its Australia executive team, as well as of Sarah O’Leary and Tom Cumberworth for Initiative’s Rufus, the dedicated media and communications for Amazon.

Singapore – IPG Mediabrands’ global performance marketing agency Reprise has announced new regional executive roles in Asia-Pacific, namely Parul Gautam as head of analytics for APAC, Caitlin Draper-Wheeler as experience director for APAC, and Sid Mehta as head of performance for media in APAC.

Gautam and Draper-Wheeler’s appointments take effect immediately, while Mehta’s appointment takes effect on 1 August this year.

In her new role, Gautam will be responsible for collaborating with Mediabrands agency partners and local market leadership to set the standard for excellence, driving growth in analytics across the APAC region. He was previously the vice president for Interactive Avenues India, a Reprise network company, where she developed the analytics function to lead more than 35 Global and Indian clients.

Meanwhile, Draper-Wheeler will drive the strategic direction for SEO and CRO crafts in the region to develop compelling solutions which inspire existing and prospective clients and deliver transformative growth. She joins from Stanley St, where she served SEO and CRO director. She also brings in more than 8 years industry experience including management positions across iProspect, Digital Hothouse and PHD.

Lastly, Mehta joins from his former position as head of paid media at NP Digital. He brings in 10 years industry experience specialising in digital marketing, having spent around 7 years leading search social and digital at Resolution Digital.

All appointees will report to Pippa Berlocher, president at Reprise APAC.

She said, “I am delighted to see our vision and ambition for Reprise APAC being realised. [We] have continued growing that traction and momentum through the key craft areas of our business – testament to the appointment of these three new leadership roles.” 

Berlocher added, “We identified expert talent from both within our Mediabrands network family and the wider industry, equipped with the ability to anticipate the pace of change by harnessing the skills and structure required to propel our clients business forward.”