Tag: Leadership

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 – Yahoo has announced key appointments in its APAC team to bolster its adtech business in the region. They include Matt Farringtona as APAC head of partnerships and investment, Sandra Lin as APAC head of DSP strategy, Kenneth Koh as head of DSP for SEA, Terence Lim as business lead for SEA, and Natalie Phang as data and insights strategist for SEA.

Farrington will drive Yahoo’s investment strategy in the region and oversee commercial trading relationships with agencies and clients. He will lead the development and delivery of Yahoo’s trading deal models in APAC, generating value for agencies and clients across Yahoo’s best-in-class unified ad tech stack and omnichannel platforms.

Meanwhile, Lin will oversee the strategy for Yahoo’s ad platforms and unified ad tech stack, focusing on growing product adoption across the region. She will lead regional multi-discipline initiatives across product, positioning, and partnerships.

Koh will lead the demand-side Platform (DSP) team for SEA. His remit will include managing Yahoo’s growing platform specialist team that helps partners in Singapore and SEA realise their full potential through Yahoo’s buying solutions powered by its omnichannel, unified ad tech stack.

On the other hand, Lim will work closely with partners and agencies to help brands future-proof their marketing strategies and achieve their business goals through Yahoo’s unified ad tech stack.

Lastly, Phang will leverage her data strategy experience built across APAC and the EU, to help Yahoo’s agency and brand clients in SEA maximise their marketing investment for the cookieless world.

Paul Sigaloff, vice president and head of APAC at Yahoo, commented, “We are pleased to welcome these new talents to the Yahoo APAC team as we enter a phase of accelerated growth for Yahoo’s ad tech business in the region. Their collective expertise and experience will be invaluable to help create value for our clients and partners in APAC.” 

He added, “With a high-performance team and our market-leading ad tech capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to help brands solve their business objectives and take advantage of new opportunities in APAC’s dynamic digital landscape.”

The slew of appointments follows a series of appointments done this year, including Sebastian Graham as director of native, as well as John McNerneypromoted to senior director of platforms for APAC and Dan Richardson promoted to head of data for APAC.

Sydney, Australia – Jessica White, a renowned digital and performance expert, has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of Reprise Australia, effective November 1 this year. This adds significant firepower to Reprise’s capabilities as it continues to build its global reputation as a full service digitally-led performance agency.

Reporting directly to CEO Mediabrands Australia Mark Coad, White also takes an immediate place on Mediabrands’ executive leadership team.

She has worked in the media industry for nearly 15 years – both agency and client side – the majority of which has been spent leading the development and implementation of data-led transformation in media and brand communications.

White has held senior roles both internationally and locally within Mediabrands, recently returning to Australia from NYC while maintaining her global head of activation role with Initiative. Prior to her role as head of activation, she was head of data and technology for AKA Kinesso NYC, driving the commercial data and programmatic strategy across the business.

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “Increasingly I hear clients wanting more accountability for their media spend, so better connecting media to business outcomes will be an area of focus. In partnership with our agencies, Reprise is uniquely positioned to drive the brand and performance cohesion needed to achieve this.”

She added, “It’s an exciting time to be in the industry and I can’t wait to develop my team’s skills and capabilities to deliver truly outstanding work for our clients.”

With her CEO appointment, White takes over Andy Holford who stepped into the role of interim CEO earlier this year.

Coad said, “I am delighted Jessica is joining Reprise, as a leader I just know she is going to shine and under her watch Reprise will continue to go from strength to strength. The business is pumping; the team are enthused and the clients are enjoying some truly wonderful work. I look forward to spending the next few months working alongside Jess as we transition into a new era of Reprise’s history.”

Japan – Dentsu Creative has announced key members of its global leadership team, including Andrea Terrassa, the new global chief operating officer, Iván Czwan Altobelli, the new global chief people officer, Julie Scelzo, the new global clients chief creative officer, and Jon Dupuis, the new global clients president.

Terrassa has acted as the chief operating officer of Dentsu Creative Americas since 2021, where she was instrumental in the organisational and transformation efforts of moving from 11 agency brands to three, and joined dentsu International in 2018 as chief operating officer for 360i. She will work closely with the global operations teams across all areas of the business, including Media and CXM, led by dentsu International’s Global Chief Operating Officer, Nnenna Ilomechina, to help achieve the business’ ambition of offering Horizontal Creativity to clients and being the world’s most integrated creative network.

Meanwhile, Altobelli will oversee all Human Resource functions, including an ambitious talent acquisition strategy. He joined dentsu International in 2021 from Accenture Interactive, where he played a key role in delivering its creative and digital agency integration for agencies including Karmarama, Rothco, Droga5, Creative Drive, MXM, and PacificLink.

In her new role, Scelzo will ensure creative excellence for global clients focusing on delivering modern creative ideas that Create Culture, Change Society and Invent the Future. Since 2018 Scelzo has served as global executive creative director for DentsuMB’s American Express business. Before that, Scelzo spent several years as a creative director at Leo Burnett, FCB, and Meta. Prior to joining Dentsu, she was the executive creative director of Pandora Music. Using this experience, Scelzo will look to offer enhanced content marketing, entertainment and IP creative strategies, as well as ensure creativity delivers horizontally for the client, from content to commerce, media to CXM.

And lastly, Dupuis will be working with Dentsu Creative’s leadership teams globally to ensure that clients are provided with powerful integrated solutions to achieve bold new executions that connect with the largest possible audience in contextually relevant ways. The key to this will be using data and technology to connect the right global talent around the right global client briefs and build teams that reflect the modern world. Dupuis has been with dentsu since 2017, when he joined as global managing director for dentsuMB and was promoted to global president and CEO in 2019.

Together, they are tasked with building and sustaining a culture of creativity, through operational excellence, attracting, and retaining world-class talent and ensuring seamless collaboration, to ensure that clients achieve the full potential of ‘Modern Creativity’ – Dentsu Creative’s expanded capabilities and bold ambition.

Fred Levron, Dentsu International’s chief creative officer, commented, “We are on a journey to design the creative network of the future. Andrea is without doubt one of the best when it comes to engineering modern structures and processes, while Iván is top in the game to onboard the best next generation of talent. In Julie and Jon, we have [a] unique driving force, who together will deliver the most compelling offer to meet the needs of, and attract more, global clients. They say, ‘If you don’t like change, you will not like irrelevance’, and we are building for change.”

Singapore – Global advertising agency and public relations company Publicis Groupe in SEA has appointed Sujith Rao, former managing director of Reprise Digital, to be its new managing director of Publicis Commerce. This move aims to accelerate the Groupe’s commerce offering in the region and further unlock client growth. 

In his new role, Rao, who will be based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be working with Publicis Groupe’s network of agencies and practice areas across SEA. He will also be orchestrating a deeper connection between the Groupe’s commerce strategy and solutions with its creative, media, performance, and production capabilities, delivering data-driven end-to-end consumer journeys that are optimised towards sales and business growth for the clients. Rao will be reporting to Ian Loon, who recently expanded his duties as chief transformation officer for Publicis Groupe SEA.

Aside from his previous role at Reprise Digital, Rao also held roles at Travelguru.com, Cbazarr.com, and IPG Mediabrands. He brings a wealth of experience with a proven track record of growing new revenue streams through the launch of innovative products and solutions, rooted in data and analytics. 

Commenting on his appointment, Rao said, “I am excited and honoured by the opportunity to work across multiple markets, brands, and capabilities, driving the evolution of Publicis Groupe’s commerce offering in Southeast Asia. Our global investments, locally relevant solutions, and the Groupe’s Power of One ethos are the perfect framework for crafting bespoke digital commerce innovations, and I am ready to get started on this journey with our clients.”

Meanwhile, Loon shared, “We are delighted to have Sujith captain and grow our highly ambitious Publicis Commerce journey. His credentials as a solutions architect, problem solver, and people connector will enable the Groupe’s ongoing transformation agenda while delivering innovative commerce solutions that marry brand building and conversion for our clients across the region.”

Melbourne, Australia – Australia-based integrated communications agency Icon Agency has appointed Simon Hobbs to step into its newly created role of executive director of digital.

In this new role, Hobbs will be leading Icon’s digital department with a focus on new business development and optimising the team’s processes and systems. 

Hobbs brings significant management experience, having previously grown multiple teams across agency and government. He previously consulted for the New South Wales government for two years, focussing on the complex content platform that is the nsw.gov.au website.

Commenting on his appointment, Hobbs said that Icon is in a fantastic position that aligns with his passions, and with recent and ongoing growth, there’s a great opportunity here for him to make a difference and help the team do their best work.

“Icon’s commitment to innovation is a real drawcard for me. We’re keeping one eye on the horizon to see what new technological opportunities are coming, like AI and the Metaverse,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chris Dodds, Icon’s managing director of digital, noted, “Adding Simon to our team reflects our commitment to constant improvement. In this next phase of growth his expertise and leadership will help our team operate at peak performance. Simon’s extensive experience with government projects strongly complements our strength and history of government work. We’re excited to add his knowledge and skills to our growing team.”

Joanne Painter, Icon’s group managing director, said “We continue to grow quickly thanks to the support and trust of our clients. Senior appointments like Simon strengthen our capabilities across all disciplines and allow us to offer multi-faceted, end-to-end projects.”

Singapore – Singapore-based global communications agency Redhill has announced its expansion into the United Kingdom, and appointing Loriann Luckings-Marwood as its director for its UK office. This follows months after its previous expansion to the Middle East and Africa in April this year.

Through establishing their presence in the UK and by tapping into the expertise of their global network, Redhill’s aim is to provide local clients with strategic communications solutions to enter new markets and expand their global footprint and global clients to enter and deepen their market presence in the UK.

Within the first month of its operations, starting September 2022, Redhill has secured The Powder Shampoo as its first client along with a number of projects and new business opportunities in the pipeline that are expected to materialise later this quarter.

Jacob Puthenparambil, CEO at Redhill, said, “The decision to expand into the UK was the next logical step in our global business growth strategy. By establishing our presence in the UK, we are now better able to service local marketers and welcome global and regional brands and clients to the UK.” 

He added, “We could not be more pleased to have Loriann join our team. Her extensive experience, deep technical expertise, excellent understanding of the UK market and local market relationships with stakeholders and the media will be instrumental in providing the highest level of service to our clients seeking integrated communication solutions.”

Meanwhile, Loriann will focus on establishing the UK market, driving local expertise and cross-market collaboration to orchestrate broader capabilities for clients and accelerate business growth in addition to hiring new talent.

With nearly two decades experience in the communications industry, Loriann has established a strong track record in planning, leading, and executing integrated communications strategies. She specialises in retail and consumer brand communications, and throughout her career, has delivered insight-informed integrated campaigns for renowned brands such as Microsoft, eBay, and the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK.

Tavy Cussinel, managing director at Redhill, said, “Loriann is not just a consummate public relations professional – she also knows the communications industry inside out and is deeply passionate about storytelling, which is a must in creating authentic connections and meaningful impact. She brings a wealth of experience from working with some of the biggest brands in the world, and her drive to create and connect in new, innovative ways is a perfect fit with the Redhill DNA. I believe that Redhill UK could not be in safer hands with Loriann at the helm, and I am excited to see it grow.”

Singapore – Marketing company Crimtan has appointed Andy Houstoun as its new chief commercial officer, where he will establish a new commercial services division to focus on better supporting existing clients, as well as growing Crimtan’s creative and analytical functions.

He has more than 20 years’ experience in programmatic and digital, most recently as group operations director at crimtan, and previously as CCO of Larsson & Jennings, the Swiss made watch brand. 

Prior to this he worked at Venda, an on-demand e-commerce provider, which was acquired by Oracle, where he launched and optimised online propositions for clients including Jimmy Choo, TK Maxx and Urban Outfitters. Prior to this, he was part of the founding team of Tesco.com.

Speaking on his appointment, he said, “The industry, compliance and needs of our clients are all evolving at lightning speed. As an independent company with our own technologies and services, Crimtan has the opportunity to be nimble and navigate this complexity through transparent insights and solutions that focus on driving each and every client’s customer lifetime value.”

He added, “I am looking forward in my new role as CCO to delivering exciting developments across planning, targeting and measurement that will support all our clients to drive the best performance for their marketing spend in the new consented and cookieless world.”

Meanwhile, Joshua Wilson, commercial director for APAC at Crimtan, commented, “The UK has been at the forefront of programmatic evolution and has been leading the charge in creating infrastructure for brands to thrive in the new world of digital advertising. As we grow and expand Crimtan’s footprint in Asia Pacific and Japan, Andy’s stepping into this role will bring a huge amount of wealth and knowledge for our clients.”

Lastly, Paul Goad, CEO at Crimtan, said, “Crimtan is constantly innovating to drive incremental ROI and lifetime customer value for our clients and we have ambitious plans for future business growth. Andy’s experience, expertise and market insight will be invaluable as we expand into new markets and build on our creative and analytical capabilities to deliver exceptional client insight and performance.”

Taiwan – BBDO Taiwan has appointed Shih-Yen Lee as its new chief creative officer, which took effect on October 3 this year.

Prior to BBDO, he also worked as creative director of Wunderman Thompson, DDB Shanghai executive creative director, and Unisurf Digital Marketing executive creative director in Taiwan.

Since joining in 2008, he has held top creative positions at leading ad firms in both China and Taiwan, covering multiple brands and categories. His works have received numerous awards, including the Effies, London International Advertising Awards, New York Advertising Awards, Clio Awards, The One Show, Spikes Asia and Cannes Lions. 

Speaking on his appointment, he said, “It’s an honour to join BBDO. I can see there is a commitment to creativity, as well as a passion for creating creative work that not only enhances the brand image but also increases sales and revenue for the client. As a final say, for now, I’d like to borrow the term “brainstorm” from BBDO co-founder Alex Faickney Osborn – I look forward to storming creative problems with the team and creating more amazing work that will truly blow clients away.”

Alan Hung, managing director at BBDO Taiwan, said, “I’m thrilled to have Shih-Yen join us as our new Chief Creative Officer. Aside from his 24 years of experience working abroad and also in Taiwan, he has an outstanding collection of awards under his belt ranging from LIA, the New York Advertising, Clio and two Cannes Lions. Shih Yen is an exceptional storyteller, and I’m looking forward to working with him on BBDO’s next chapters.”

Meanwhile, Wai Foong Leong, chairman and CCO of BBDO Greater China, commented, “It’s been ten years since I got to know Shih-Yen. I’ve watched Shih-Yen win clients and awards one after another in different battlefields, wondering when I’ll be able to collaborate with him. That dream has now finally come true! I’m confident that with Shih Yen, BBDO Taiwan will shine even brighter in the years to come. Exciting times ahead for sure.”

Singapore – Warren Fernandez, formerly an editor affiliated with The Straits Times, has been named the new chief executive officer of Edelman in Asia-Pacific, effective October 25 this year.

Fernandez will join the firm’s global executive leadership team and report to global president and chief operating officer Matthew Harrington. He replaces Stephen Kehoe, who left Edelman in June. Dave Samson, global vice chairman of corporate affairs, has served as interim CEO since Kehoe’s departure.

His appointment also follows several key appointments for Edelman’s health arm in APAC, in Singapore, and the appointment of Melvin Goo as new chief operating officer for Indonesia.

He joins from English/Malay/Tamil Media Group in SPH Media, where he was the editor-in-chief. He simultaneously served as the editor of The Straits Times. He joined The Straits Times as a political reporter in 1990 and would go on to serve as news editor as well as foreign editor and deputy editor. 

In 2008, Fernandez left to join Royal Dutch Shell as a global manager for its Future Energy project, working with its scenario planning and communications teams in London and the Hague. He returned to the paper in 2012 as its senior-most editor.

Speaking on his appointment, he said, “I’m very excited to join a firm that I have admired and worked with, as a client and partner, over the years. Edelman continues to drive the conversation on Trust and shape the future of the communications industry. I believe there is enormous potential to continue to expand upon the vital thought leadership, as well as media, brand and strategic communications advice we provide to our clients. I look forward to leading the team in Asia Pacific and working with the industry-leading talent across its global network.”

Meanwhile, Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman, commented, “Asia is one of the most important markets to Edelman’s future. We have purposely built a communications advisory firm to help Asian companies step onto the global stage, while also supporting other companies as they seek to expand into the diverse markets of Asia. Our ability to help companies navigate the complexities across this vast and dynamic region have never been more critical to businesses and we are the right firm to help them succeed in doing so.”