Singapore – Global marketing and advertising agency dentsu has announced the creation of a new cluster for Southeast Asia, alongside the appointment of a team of veteran industry leaders. The newly formed SEA cluster will include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The new appointees at dentsu are Sanjay Bhasin, now CEO of SEA; Prakash Kamdar, now CEO of clients and solutions SEA; and Bharti Agrawal​, CFO of SEA. The three will lead the fast-growing market for the network in the region. 

Prior to the new role, Bhasin was CEO of Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam at dentsu. He is a veteran of the industry with 30 years of experience across APAC and SEA region.

Speaking about his new appointment, Bhasin said, “Personally and professionally, I have also known Prakash and Bharti for several decades and we have built an exceptional chemistry during the years of working together. I could not ask for a better, more collaborative and talented team to embark on this new and exciting era together with.”

Meanwhile, Kamdar brings with him 27 years of expertise in digital marketing and digital transformation and has a strong track record in client-centricity and creating transformative solutions. He joined the digital industry back in 1997 and has been CEO of Singapore and Indoniesia at dentsu.

“I have played various different roles at dentsu in the last 11 years, however my deep love and passion has always been for using the combined power of creativity, design, data, media, and technology to create transformative solutions that help businesses and brands achieve their growth and good ambitions.” 

He also shared his excitement over working with Bhasin, Agrawal, and the rest of the agency’s SEA leaders to transform the fortunes of businesses and people’s lives through its integrated growth solutions.

Agrawal, similarly, is a proven leader with over 20 years of extensive financial experience together with operational, commercial and M&A expertise in listed and private organisations across the UK, Brazil, and SEA. 

Rob Gilby, CEO of APAC at dentsu, also commented, “It’s well documented that SEA is experiencing exponential growth and tremendous transformation. Aligning with this is a natural progression for the business and will support significant investment in and commitment to our people, our clients, our partners and our competitive capabilities in this important growth region.”

Most recently, dentsu International has expanded its partnership with foodpanda to support its media transformation journey and bring closer collaboration across the markets of Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Indonesia – Creative and communications network dentsu in APAC has appointed Prakash Kamdar to be its new CEO for dentsu Indonesia. This is in addition to his current role as CEO of dentsu Singapore. Kamdar commences the role in February this year.

The appointment follows the step down of former CEO Maya Watono who will be leaving the business at the end of January to take on a role in a newly established holding company for Indonesia’s State-Owned Enterprises. 

During Kamdar’s stint at dentsu, he first held the position of CEO at Isobar Singapore, where he took the business from strength to strength prior to being promoted to CEO of dentsu Singapore in 2019. In the Singapore role, dentsu said he has successfully led the agency through a significant turnaround, having worked with various clients including Standard Chartered, PayPal, Starhub, Intel, and Mastercard, as well as Salesforce, among others.

Wendy Clark, the global CEO of dentsu international, believes that Kamdar is a highly-regarded digital native leader and his authentic management approach has guided the Singapore teams through the pandemic, resulting in the country’s highest-ever client satisfaction ratings with the business on track to return to pre-pandemic growth levels by the close of 2021. 

Commenting on his appointment, Kamdar said, “I have big shoes to fill and this is a challenge for the new year that I can’t wait to get started on.”

Dentsu APAC has also announced the recent promotion of Wisnu Satya Putra to CEO of Creative at dentsu Indonesia, and Arshad Rahman to CEO of CXM at dentsu Indonesia, which are said to be pivotal to dentsu APAC’s strategy to lead the Indonesia team into its next phase of growth.

“Together with industry veterans Wisnu and Arshad, they [will] bolster the leadership team and bring fresh perspectives and a wealth of experience to the business,” said Clark.