Tag: Leadership

The fight for gender parity has achieved tremendous progress, but there is still so much to do. For one, when it comes to leadership, men are still perceived to carry much more capability than women. As time passes and women continue to fight for equality, these public perceptions are changing.

Through the years of progressive effort, women have changed the unfavourable work environment and redefined their roles, particularly at top management and executive levels.

In celebration of International Women’s Month this March, MARKETECH APAC has decided to launch the ‘Empowered Women’ series to honour and spotlight female leaders with the goal of inspiring women marketers to focus on their potential in marketing and leadership. 

The empowered women series features audio and video of conversations with female marketing experts across the Asia-Pacific region with the goal of highlighting their career trajectory and contributions as well as their marketing insights on latest trends and issues in the industry – and how female marketers can continue to thrive and lead the stride for female leadership and ingenuity. 

Check out the line-up of conversations with female marketing leaders under the podcast series:

Expert Up Close: Charlotte Ward, founder at Agnes Media 

  • Charlotte Ward, founder at Agnes Media, she discussed her passion for marketing measurement and the challenges she had to face in leading Agnes Media. Hear her insights as well about the biggest marketing challenge that B2B brands face nowadays.

Expert Up Close: Ace Gapuz, CEO at Blogapalooza

  • Ace Gapuz, CEO at Blogapalooza, described how creators and influencers have a big impact on consumers’ mindsets, their beliefs, and on how they will decide to act as well as the essence of women in the marketing and advertising industry.

Expert Up Close: Raushida Vasaiwala, general manager, APAC at Celtra

  • In an interview with Raushida Vasaiwala, general manager for Asia-pacific at Celtra, she shared her career trajectory and what motivated her to pursue the marketing and tech industry as well as her insights on the importance of creative automation for brands. 

Expert Up Close: Melissa Sandhu, deputy general manager of marketing communications at Desaru Coast

  • Melissa Sandhu, deputy general manager of marketing communications at Desaru Coast, she talked about her approach to content development and her tips and advice for hotel brands that are struggling to cope with the economic consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Expert Up Close: Manisha Seewal, chief marketing officer at Gumtree Australia

  • Manisha Seewal, chief marketing officer at Gumtree Australia, she discussed the changes, innovations, and opportunities in the automotive industry. Hear her insights about trends that would shape the future and her advice for marketers who want to be part of the automotive industry.

Expert Up Close: Vasuta Agarwal, SVP & managing director at InMobi APAC

  • Vasuta Agarwal, SVP & managing director at InMobi APAC, discussed her best advertising practices as well as her insights about the significant changes in the gaming industry in Southeast Asia in terms of consumer behaviour, management, and innovation.

Expert Up Close: Aditi Kapoor, former marketing lead at Metromart Philippines

  • Aditi Kapoor, former marketing lead at Metromart Philippines, shared her biggest takeaways in her decade-long career journey in steering the wheel of the marketing of various brands in the e-commerce, media, and retail sector in Southeast Asia. Aditi also shared the role of mentorship in shaping future marketers. 

Expert Up Close: Angeli Beltran, director of interactive commerce ASEAN & global care centre of excellence at Reckitt

  • Angeli Beltran, director of interactive commerce ASEAN & global care centre of excellence at Reckitt, she discussed her marketing strategies in this time of pandemic and her passion for interactive commerce as well as her advice for marketers who take care of multiple markets.

Expert Up Close: The women leaders of Society Pass

  • In this episode, we feature the women leaders of Society Pass, Arbie Pagdanganan, Philippines country manager & vice president of product development, and Pamela Aw-Young, chief operating officer, as they talk about the next generation of e-commerce platforms and loyalty programs in the Philippines.

You can also check out the lineup of conversations with Women marketers under the video content series: 

Empowered Women 2022 series: Gretchen Largoza, CEO at AdSpark Philippines

  • Gretchen Largoza, CEO at AdSpark Philippines, she shares her marketing journey across different domains in Southeast Asia as well as her insights about the cultural differences and unique features between Southeast Asian countries as well as her advice for future marketers.

Empowered Women 2022 series: Azadeh Williams, founder and managing partner at AZK Media

  • Azadeh Williams, founder and managing partner at AZK Media, talked about her career journey, and her leadership philosophy as well as sharing her tips for women marketers seeking to balance personal and business life.

Empowered Women 2022 series: Eileen Ooi, CEO at Omnicom Media Group Malaysia

  • Eileen Ooi, CEO at Omnicom Media Group Malaysia, shared her career journey in working as a leader in the media agency industry and her philosophy in leadership as well as her insights on how the landscape of the media affects consumer behaviour. 

Listen and watch our space as we showcase more in-depth conversations with female marketing leaders in discussing cutting-edge marketing trends and empowering professional insights.

If you are a marketing or tech leader who wants to share your industry journey and insights, email us at [email protected].

In a conversation with Vasuta Agarwal, the senior vice president & managing director for Asia Pacific of InMobi, she shares the career journey she’s had, from starting off as a chip design engineer at Intel, then climbing into the senior vice president & managing director at InMobi, and how she continues to champion for women in the world of marketing. 

Vasuta boasts more than 10 years of experience in the marketing tech space. Of what makes her thrive in different roles she managed, she shares, “I was fortunate to try different [functions] and [roles] and I think all of these different roles really helped me to get a holistic understanding of the business and help make my transition to advertising technology.”  

“I think it’s very important for women to [explore] and in order to sort of compete or survive you need to keep yourself continuously being updated and prepared for every new role and challenge and never stop learning because it’s the only way to thrive in competitive environments,” Vasuta adds.

During the conversation with Vasuta, we asked about her leadership and management journey, and she shared, “As a leader, I feel like I really need to create other leaders, I should not create followers that’s not my job as a leader but to create more leaders and enable other people in their leadership journey.”

“In management, it is really important to trust people to do the right thing because when you create that trust then they feel empowered to make the right decisions. Then you can encourage them to dream big to take risks, to take big bets,” Vasuta said.

Listen to the full conversation with Vasuta Agarwal over at Spotify, where Vasuta shares further on what she believes are the best advertising practices as well as her insights about the significant changes in the gaming industry in Southeast Asia in terms of consumer behaviour, management, and innovation. You can also view the highlights of the conversation on our Youtube channel. 

If you are a marketing or tech leader who wants to share your industry journey and insights, email us at [email protected]. 

Australia — Australian multinational bank, The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), has announced the appointment of Mark Evans as the new country head of its Singapore market. In addition, Evans has been named as ANZ’s head for  Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East. This follows the retirement decision of the incumbent Vishnu Shahaney after a 40-year career with the bank. 

Evans is currently head of strategic planning and execution based in Sydney. Prior to joining ANZ, he previously held senior roles at HSBC overseeing its trade and supply chain business first in Australia, before moving to Hong Kong in a leadership capacity across Asia Pacific. He has also held positions earlier in his career at National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and St. George.

Simon Ireland, managing director of International of ANZ, shared, “Singapore is a critical market for the Bank given its status as a key financial hub and gateway location for the world’s largest multinational companies with trade and capital flows across ASEAN. As one of our most experienced banking executives in both our home markets and in Asia, Mark is well placed to drive strategic opportunities, growth and value for our business and our customers.”

He added, “Vishnu is a true veteran of our business and the banking industry across the region. The leadership team at ANZ thanks him for his significant contribution over many years and wish him well for the future.”

To ensure a smooth transition, Evans will relocate from Sydney to Singapore in May and report to Ireland while Shahaney will depart the Bank in July.

The greater foundations of any successful business or agency nowadays are no longer confined within the spaces of how well the agency clinches large accounts for their work, or how much awards the campaigns and works they made with their clients have acquired. Instead, the modern face of an agency has always been this intrinsic web of ascertaining ‘memorable’ and ‘relevant’ campaigns, creating an inclusive environment for creative talents, as well as keeping in mind its greater role for the betterment of the society, economically and sustainably.

Despite the complexity of these tasks modern agencies would need now to face, there are quite a number of agencies who continue to strive for this modern agency ideology. In addition, many of these agencies add their own flair of strategies and methodologies to live up to these expectations, and truly make a lasting impression not just to clients, but to the society as well.

Such is the mantra of Malaysia-based agency DreamsKingdoms, founded and currently led by Yenkai “Yens” Chong, whose primary objective to date is to aid local small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) to be the next generation of multinational companies (MNCs). For the agency, this includes preparing for BMI or the so-called ‘branding and marketing integration’, enabling them to shift their mindset to be ready and confident in realizing their full potential.

“In the running, DreamsKingdoms will share its creative expertise for the local SMEs to flourish by driving performance-driven branding and marketing skills forward to clients. The company’s expert experience having worked with a broad portfolio of global brands will surely be used as a key instrument in influencing the country’s SMEs, adopting the way a multinational corporation (MNC) markets its brand,” Yens shared in an interview with MARKETECH APAC.

Utilization of gamification strategies to boost team productivity

Gone are the days when the facet of a business management strategy is all about the intensity and number of the outputs, but rather affording a similar value on the need for team members to execute their skills and creative prowess well in order to create campaigns that impress more and last longer.

For Yens, part of that strategy in improving the productivity mantra is creating gamification strategies in order to boost work output from team members not just by the physical count but by the value and the message of the creative work to be embodied by the client. 

For instance, the agency has its own proprietary platform called ‘GamePlan’, which encourages the team to continuously upgrade their skills by being able to collect ‘gems’, ‘coins’, as well client’s ‘love’; these, in turn, will enable the agency’s team members to qualify for the promotion and have them in exchange of rewards as well. 

“It’s like playing a game while you are working. That’s what motivates people from young to old age, to have a clear path of where their performance is and improve on the area that they are behind,” Yens stated.

He believes that success should be implemented in a new way and measured by key results through the genuine creativeness and lasting impression an output leaves for the client and viewers, especially as a thought leader in the creative industry.

“Creatives are always being underrated in the growth of a business. Eventually, we are not being defined as a professional and always being put as the last choice to grow a business. We are building a creative eco-system that combines small individual specific skills that are nothing when viewed individually but integrated together, it becomes a result-driven source of power,” he added.

A self-taught pattern to empower DreamsKingdoms’ clients

Patterns and methodologies are the true core of any agency to succeed, and for Yens, part of the agency’s own pattern or model relies on what he calls the “ABCDE Energy,” which constitutes, Attract Attention, Bold Branding, Consumer Connection, Design Desire, and Extraordinary Experience.

An integral part of the pattern to work it out fully is always think about who gets to react and use it, hence the factor Attract Attention. If you can get audiences’ attention, you would have gained a listener. Attention has become the new currency not only for brand success but with anything they wish to convey.

Of course, part of the reason why audiences stick to a brand is that they find a particular brand to be creating a particular impression on them. With Bold Branding, it explains that people don’t buy what you do, people buy why brands do it. With the audience’s attention attracted, next is to capture their belief in why you do what you do through powerful brand purpose. 

Once the brand establishes a striking impression with their audience, in order for them to stay in the longer run, they need to ascertain Consumer Connection. Listen, understand, connect and engage. The future belongs to those who are able to align and connect with the power of empathy with their consumer, as trust builds relationships, and relationships drive action. 

And while we’re at it, Design Desire is another factor to include, making the product or service inclusive and appealing to the consumer. The motivating force behind raving fans. Consumers buy when they believe in your core purpose and would want to be part of the change you promise to bring them.

Lastly, as with any big brands that have lasted for ages, Extraordinary Experience is dubbed as the ‘extra spice’ to complete the audience-brand relationship. Defined as the lifetime memory that anchors the mind & heart, this is built upon the foundations of endless choices of what’s available and what’s possible getting smaller, consumer expectations are what set the extraordinary from the norm.

Yens believes that every global successful brand becomes successful through a pattern. From years of deep experience, he discovered a pattern that will help shape a brand through achieving more likeability, shareability, and lovability.

“Always practice that ‘CIA’ mentality: Always Curious, Imagineering, and Assessing’. This comes with the constant goal of creating the next breakthrough. Since day one, I have constantly reviewed my capabilities and relevancy to the changes in the industry. For me, there’s always a mission unfulfilled as long as there’s imagination yet to be discovered,” Yens explained regarding the formulation of the agency pattern.

Sharing through digital content: A tale of video series

Agencies don’t just thrive under the fact that they are just all about their craft and output, sometimes its members go the extra mile in ascertaining the vision of their company, which is for the greater benefit of their clients, helping them to create an impact at a larger society level. From creating non-profit organizations catered to help those in the community, creating a network of influencers to spread a certain message, all these strategies are tackled by creative leaders nowadays who wish to not only create an impact but also affect disruption for the greater good. 

In Yens’ case, one of his ways to ascertain that vision of aiding others is through constant sharing, specifically through digital content.

A screengrab on one of the many videos Yens uploads on his personal branded Facebook page.

He currently runs a personal branded Facebook page, where he uploads short video content sharing people various local-centric marketing concepts such as branding, advertising campaigns and migrating traditional business online.

The greater reason that makes these videos so inclined to CSR principles is that Yens’ sharing video content empowers especially local-based SMEs who aspire to be the ‘next big thing’. And as true to the mantra of the DreamsKingdoms’ vision of empowering this sector, , these videos speak truly of their aspirations of aiding SMEs towards their continued growth as a business.

This educational strategy from Yens best reflects his perspective and personality as a thought leader, where he states that “as a leader, entrepreneurs don’t read books, they use books.” He also added that we don’t lack knowledge or information, but, rather, we only lack simplified concepts that could easily be understood and shared to everyone, understandable and shareable.

A vision for the future of SMEs as the next MNCs

Part of the greater vision by DreamsKingdoms and Yens includes developing their mission of assisting 100 potential Malaysian SMEs to achieve excellent brand status. The company believes that this initiative will be able to help elevate the country’s SME sector as a whole, as well as promote good entrepreneurship spirit and product innovation.

Furthermore, the company also seeks to assist more Malaysian services, products, and businesses to thrive in the market by leveraging the company’s knowledge, skills, and expertise in branding and marketing strategy.

“The mission to grow SMEs will be elevated to be a permanent positioning of the company in order to get closer to achieving the status of being the country’s top performance-driven branding consultancy company,” Yens added.

In order to achieve this task, the agency will be sharing its creative expertise for the local SMEs to flourish by championing performance-driven branding and marketing skills. The company’s expert experience having worked with a broad portfolio of global brands will surely be used as a key instrument in influencing the country’s SMEs, adopting the way a multinational corporation (MNC) markets its brand.

Yens believes that to achieve impact, creativity in any brand growth should be simple. One of his well-known quotes is, “Think like MNCs, Act Like SMEs,” which means that businesses should have the insight and a vision big enough like MNCs, while incorporating the speed of SMEs. With this, businesses will be able to adapt to the changes in the environment.

Sydney, Australia – Digital media consultancy MightyHive and digital production company MediaMonks sees a new appointment for vice president and head of growth for ANZ as its mother company S4 Capital unveils Tom Braybrook to lead both roles.

Braybrook has previously worked with tech giant Google as head of agencies and partners in New Zealand, as well as with computer software company Adobe, where he served various roles such as APAC strategy and solutions lead and regional product manager for Adobe Analytics Cloud.

Speaking about his appointment he said, “As enterprises march forward with their digital transformation efforts, it’s no secret that the role of today’s marketer continues to broaden – whether it is making smarter use of data, rearchitecting the customer experience or finding new ways to tell brand stories in a digital world. 

He added, “In the midst of this evolution, MightyHive and MediaMonks represent an exciting new breed of marketing services partner who are not only enabling businesses to understand and adopt these technologies but are also supporting their transformation efforts in a much more agile and flexible way.”

Meanwhile, Kenny Griffiths, managing director for Asia Pacific at MightyHive, commented, “Tom’s extensive 15 years’ experience in digital marketing aligns perfectly to not only where we’re at as a business, but where we’re going. His experience from the Agency world, Adobe & most recently Google is unique as it hones in on our holy trinity – data, digital media and content- approach and will be critical in evolving how we go to market across the two countries.”

Manila, Philippines – Filipino conglomerate Ayala Corporation has announced key changes in its C-suite leadership , namely Fernando Zobel de Ayala as the new president and CEO, taking over Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, who is now serving as chairman of the board.

Fernando takes over Jaime’s former position as CEO after 26 years of tenure as the head figure of the conglomerate’s operations.

Established in 1834, Ayala Corporation is one of the largest corporations in the Philippines and with a massive portfolio of diverse business interests, including investments in retail, education, real estate, and banking, as well as telecommunications, water infrastructure, renewable energy, and electronics. The conglomerate also has businesses in information technology, automotive, and healthcare, and management and business process outsourcing.

“Since 1995, our market capitalization has expanded more than sixfold; our net income similarly grew more than six times. Since 1995, we rewarded our shareholders with dependable returns that averaged at 15 percent per annum. Over that period, we cumulatively paid ₱118b in dividends to our common shareholders,” Fernando stated.

He added, “As incoming president and CEO, I aim to build on the firm foundation that Jaime established, guided by our core strategy of maintaining leadership and relevance in the markets we serve. To support this, we will place greater emphasis on our portfolio strategy with a sharper focus on optimizing returns from existing businesses, a highly disciplined approach on capital deployment; and explore opportunities for value realization initiatives to fund future investments.”

During Jaime’s tenure as CEO, Ayala Corporation has managed to make massive investments in real estate, banking, telecommunications, energy, water, health, education, and logistics where large societal gaps exposed opportunities to serve a broader, more inclusive set of customers, generate meaningful returns and improve risk-resilience.

Other key leadership changes include Ayala Corporation’s CFO, TG Limcaoco, taking the helm at BPI as president and CEO; upon the retirement of his predecessor, Bong Consing. Bong will continue to be engaged with the Ayala Group as a member of the board of directors of BPI, Ayala Corporation, Globe Telecom and AC Energy Corporation. 

In addition, Albert De Larrazabal, most recently Globe’s chief commercial officer, succeeds Limcaoco as AC’s CFO. Eric Francia, current president and CEO of AC Energy, was appointed to concurrently chair AC’s Investment Committee. 

“We are cautiously optimistic about the business environment and will continue to prepare for a post-pandemic economic recovery. We are hoping for a successful implementation of the country’s vaccination program that would pave the way for a revival of the economy. With a healthy balance sheet and a set of diversified and strong franchises in our portfolio, we are confident that we will come out of this difficult period stronger,” Fernando concluded.

Singapore – The Singapore arm of global communications agency Sandpiper Communications welcomes two new appointees being promoted to take charge of the agency’s business operations in the country.

The new appointees are Sarada Chellam, Sandpiper Singapore’s new general manager and Elizabeth Chu, the agency’s deputy general manager. Both will work closely with COO Kelly Johnston, and CEO Emma Smith to drive forward the business in Singapore and across the rest of Southeast Asia.

Chellam has worked previously with the Singapore arm of marketing communications company Ketchem as its senior vice president before joining Sandpiper in 2018 as a director. She specializes in corporate, brand, and crisis communications and provides strategic counsel for clients working across a range of industries including healthcare, technology, travel, and consumer brands. In addition, she brought with her almost 20 years of experience in communications and journalism and has played an integral role in growing Sandpiper’s healthcare practice and digital-first communications offering across the region.

Meanwhile, Chu has been with Sandpiper in Singapore for close to three years and specializes in the financial, technology, and professional services sectors. She set up and grew Sandpiper’s operations in China, spending time between Beijing and Shanghai before returning to Singapore full-time in 2020. She has more than a decade of experience working in corporate communications across Greater China and the Southeast Asia region.

Commenting on their promotions, Chellam said, “I am excited to lead our Singapore office and build on our achievements and growth in recent years. We are fortunate to have hugely supportive clients and an incredible team with a strong entrepreneurial mindset. I look forward to continuing to work closely with them to deliver great work and drive innovation in our industry.”

Meanwhile, Chu commented, “As Singapore strengthens its status as a global business and financial hub, we are well-positioned to serve our clients in this market and to grow the business alongside them. I am honoured to take on this new role, and to support Sarada and the team in continuing to deliver strong results for our clients.”

For Johnston, working with the two appointees has been a privilege, noting that “they are both talented consultants who lead from the front.”

“[They] are strong ambassadors for our culture and values, and have built trusted partnerships with clients. With our Singapore team doubling in size over the past year, their appointments will help drive forward our continued growth and success,” Johnston added.

Singapore – The Asia Pacific arm of global communications agency Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) has announced two key changes in their senior leadership lineup; with Polka Yu appointed as deputy to the APAC president, and Joe Peng as chief digital officer at BCW Asia-Pacific.

Both new appointees will report directly to Matt Stafford, President, BCW Asia-Pacific.

Through her new role, Yu will work alongside Stafford in implementing the next phase of BCW’s three-year growth strategy in APAC built around investments in creative technology, research, and content production; and leveraging the agency’s leadership in reputation management, Asia-based multinationals, and the information and communications technology, consumer and healthcare sectors.

Meanwhile, Peng will spearhead the optimization of the region’s core digital innovation backbone, including establishing new digital platforms of excellence around data analytics and artificial intelligence.

Yu’s background is composed of a decade of work for BCW in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou helping multi-national companies with their China campaigns. After relocating to Hong Kong from mainland China in 2014, she shifted her focus to supporting Chinese companies with their going-global strategies. Since 2018, she has led BCW’s regional integrated communications practice that used insights and creative technology to develop compelling campaigns, many of which have won many prominent industry awards.

On the other hand, Peng has a 15-year work background, which has delivered digital media campaigns for clients across industries including aviation, computer, cosmetics, education, entertainment, finance, semiconductor, and manufacturing. Earlier in his career, Peng led digital innovation at Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe.

Speaking about her appointment, Yu stated, “Our efforts to bring together the best industry talent to tell powerful and precise stories that move people on behalf of our clients, deliver impressive business results despite the COVID-19 disruption, and innovate to set new standards for the future of communications have paid off. But there is still much to do, and I am beyond thrilled to be part of the driving force in this next chapter.”

Meanwhile, Peng commented, “BCW innovated in response to the digital transformation needs of clients brought on by COVID-19 at a scale and speed we never thought possible. Looking to the year ahead, our priority is to maintain the quality and grow the range of BCW’s digital services we deliver at a regional level to help our clients gain a competitive advantage.”

For Stafford, the new roles of Yu and Peng will bring more critical success for BCW, as he has seen the achievement both appointees have shown back when they were mid-level consultants.

“Together with their fantastic teams, they have played critical roles in our company’s evolution to a truly integrated and digital innovation agency in this region. This transformation was a key contributor to the strong growth BCW has delivered in Asia-Pacific over the past three years,” Stafford added.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Public relations and content marketing agency Mutant in Malaysia has appointed branding communications veteran Archana Menon to be the new country head of Mutant Malaysia.

Through her new role, Menon will be responsible for overseeing and growing Mutant’s business in Malaysia, offering specialist services in branding, content development, PR, and digital marketing to both existing and new clients and driving results that boost sales, leads, and customer retention. 

Prior to her recent appointment, she was formerly the country head for the Malaysian arm of communications company Ruder Finn. She has accumulated more than 14 years of experience in integrated communications, media planning, and branding to the agency. 

She has also worked across a variety of sectors, including property, healthcare, technology, and telecommunications, and also includes a diverse track record that includes strategic counsel and crisis management for local and regional SMEs, startups, and government bodies.

“Mutant’s ability to pair strong storytelling with public relations has helped clients successfully navigate the transformation we’re seeing in the media landscape. I’m excited to now take things a step further by combining content, PR, branding, and digital marketing to attract a strong roster of clients, and help them stand out and drive business goals,” Menon commented regarding her appointment.

Her recent appointment comes as Mutant plans to expand regionally in Asia, including its goal of becoming a full-service, integrated agency, with new digital marketing and branding offerings. 

Menon will report directly to Joseph Barratt, founder and CEO of Mutant.

Barratt said, “Mutant is redefining how PR, content, digital marketing, and branding come together to help businesses succeed, and I’m excited to see how Archana will take her depth of knowledge, strong leadership, and passion for the job to solidify and grow Mutant in Malaysia.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Former CEO of advertising agency Publicis Groupe in Malaysia, Kien Eng Tan, has been appointed by the Malaysian arm of global communications network dentsu as its CEO, effective February 8 this year.

Through his new role, Tan will be responsible for continuing the business’ transformation journey, driving integration across media, creative, and CXM service lines, building a strong culture with its people, and growth for its clients’ business. He will report to Ashish Bhasin, CEO of dentsu Asia Pacific.

“I am excited to be joining dentsu, with its strong heritage of innovation at such a pivotal time. The market has never been more dynamic with COVID-19 rewriting consumer behavior and therefore, expectations of the brands they engage with. Dentsu is excellently placed to capitalize on this pivot for its clients, and I am looking forward to working with the teams to develop and grow these opportunities,” Tan commented. 

Prior to joining dentsu, he also served as CEO to advertising agency Leo Burnett in Malaysia, accumulating more than 30 years experience in advertising and communications, and 15 years of senior leadership roles in the advertising industry.

“I am delighted to have Kien take over at such an important time. Over the years he has built a formidable reputation creating visionary work and growth for brands, as well as strong and united teams and I am looking forward to seeing him take Malaysia into its next era of growth. Nicky has been CEO at dentsu Malaysia for almost six years; I’d like to thank him for his leadership and wish him success with his future endeavors,” said Bhasin. 

Tan’s predecessor Nicky Lim is said to move on from his role to pursue other interests.