Tag: Wunderman Thompson

South Korea – Wunderman Thompson has announced the appointment of KJ Lee as its managing director for South Korea to lead the agency’s operations in the country and build a business with creativity and technology at its core. 

Lee will also support the growth ambitions of existing clients by collaborating with the APAC network whilst securing new businesses by delivering innovative solutions to the challenges being faced by Korean brands.

Lee brings with him a 20-year working experience in advertising companies. In his last stint, he was with creative agency Serviceplan Group as executive director. Working with at advertising agency Leo Burnett, tobacco company Philp Morris International, and WPP’s Geometry Global were also some of his previous experiences.

Furthermore, Lee formerly served as Havas’ vice president, where he led the team’s growth in a highly competitive market. Aside from winning the lead creative agency for premium brand BMW Korea during his stint, he was able to expand client categories to healthcare, and mobile game and platform industries.

Ewen Sturgeon, international CEO at Wunderman Thompson said that they are thrilled to have Lee in their leadership team due to his deep understanding of the challenges in the modern marketing industry.

Meanwhile, Lee said that he aims to strengthen the agency’s presence in Korea by making it a positively recognized, highly recommended, and deeply respected agency in the country.

“The Wunderman Thompson network, including Korea, has the data and innovative strategic and execution tools to build inspiring consumer-centric, omnichannel communications – adding value and meaning to our clients and partners,” he added.

Earlier this month, the Indian leg of Wunderman Thompson has also appointed Richa Dholi as vice president of strategy planning in India.

India – Wunderman Thompson India has appointed Richa Dholi as its new vice president for strategy planning. With an extensive experience in marketing and digital ecosystem of businesses, Dholi will lead the strategic efforts specifically for the Unilever brands that are handled by the agency.

In her last stint, she was a senior brand manager at the microblogging and social networking service Koo India. She also worked at advertising companies Ogilvy, Lowe, and McCann, and information technology company Capgemini where she engaged with FMCG and lifestyle brands. 

Anurag Tandon, managing partner at Wunderman Thompson Mumbai said that the agency needs to adjust its mindset towards brand management and customer experience, given that customers engaged differently with the brands in the post-pandemic world.

He added, “With Richa on board, we get the right blend of understanding business and strategy. We are excited to have her as part of our team and wish her the very best in her new role.”

Commenting on her new role, Dholi said, “Being part of Wunderman Thompson is a privilege and a testament to the agency’s cutting-edge approach to blending culture, creativity, and technology. As a planner, I am eager to continue growing and evolving in this dynamic environment.”

Bengaluru, India – To help improve the air quality for India’s underprivileged school children, nasal health brand Otrivin has launched an initiative called ‘Otrivin Pollution Capture Pencils’ where the brand distributes the ever-essential pencils to young students in Bengaluru. A pretty normal sighting – but with an incredible tech behind it: they are created from pollution by-products. 

The project is in collaboration with Wunderman Thompson Singapore, and in the initial phase of it, Indian innovation company Panjurli Labs was engaged to develop twenty-two specially designed purifiers. These were installed inside and outside school buildings, and for two months, were able to wipe out up to 74% of airborne pollutants and clean over 2 billion cubic feet of toxic air, said the agency.

The process of creating the pencils involved residues being gathered and then mixed with graphite. In the end, the project was able to create 10,000 custom-designed and non-toxic pencils. These were distributed to students and will similarly serve as a fundraising tool to add more air purifiers in local schools.

Farhad Nadeem, global marketing & digital director of Otrivin, shared that the Otrivin ‘Pollution Capture Pencils’ pilot in India is one such action that attempts to convert air pollution into positivity. 

“We hope that this initiative, while not solving India’s pollution challenge, inspires people to take simple actions to make the world a better place to live in and breathe,” Nadeem added.

Meanwhile, Mateusz Mroszczak, chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson Singapore, commented, “We’re really proud to have partnered with Otrivin to take a small, but meaningful step to help bring cleaner air to India’s children.”

Wunderman Thompson revealed that Bengaluru was chosen as the city to focus on due to its air quality which is considered to go over WHO’s threshold of healthy air. Based on WHO’s data, 98% of Indian children breathe toxic air not just outdoors, but also in their classrooms where they spend almost 8 hours a day in their classes. Furthermore into the project, three low-income schools within the city’s industrial areas of Peenya, Hegganahalli, and Mallasandra were selected. 

In addition, the packaging of the pencils was designed by Indian multidisciplinary artist Gautam Dutta. Dutta said that in conceptualising, he had to visit the schools to find inspiration. Seeing how the children managed to smile despite their situation birthed into the joyful designs by Dutta that aim to represent the children and capture their imagination.

Mumbai, India – Wunderman Thompson has appointed Harsh Shah as its new chief digital officer for South Asia. Shah will be responsible for accelerating the digital transformation of the Wunderman Thompson Group and will work with its agencies across the creative, communication, tech, health, and commerce practices. 

In his last stint, Harsh was with Dentsu Creative as President – West, and led operations, revenue, people and culture for Dentsu Webchutney, and regional business for the rest of Dentsu Creative. For the new role, he will be reporting directly to Shams Jasani, chief executive officer of Wunderman Thompson South Asia.

Jasani said, “We are Delighted to welcome Harsh to the Wunderman Thompson Family. He brings in a wealth of experience across Digital, Technology and Commerce. Our work at Wunderman Thompson harnesses the power of creative, technology, and Commerce to drive unprecedented growth for some of the world’s biggest brands. We are glad to have Harsh onboard at a critical juncture when we are keenly looking at offering end-to-end capabilities to our clients at scale.”

Meanwhile, Shah commented, “I am deeply excited by the vision drawn up at WT and my specific charter as a key growth partner. I look forward to drive this vision and unlock growth with my highly experienced and talented peers at the agency.”

Singapore – Unilever’s global beauty brand LUX has been consistent in exercising its platform to rally against sexism, and this time, it augments its support by launching a new global training resource. The Allies e-learning programme is a learning tool targeted at the workplace setting, aiming to impart how to call out and stop bad behaviour in the workplace. 

Led by Wunderman Thompson, the communications are rooted in real-life insights relevant to the audience in developing and emerging markets that LUX serves. The new course called ‘LUX Allies Against Workplace Sexism’ is said to have been designed together with a DE&I behaviour change expert to help counter sexism in the workplace. Furthermore, it was created specifically for emerging markets where patriarchal values and the traditional mindset about gender roles are entrenched in society. 

Severine Vauleon, global brand lead at LUX, said, “Beauty can be a powerful source of strength and self-confidence for women. At the workplace in particular, confidence and self-belief can make a huge difference in a woman’s job satisfaction and career trajectory.” 

“As a brand that touches the lives of millions of women worldwide, we want to be an enabler that supports women’s confidence and authenticity to thrive, rather than see them self-edit and wither. As such, we will continue to help women everywhere fight casual sexism especially related to their experience, at home, in the workplace and in wider society.”

The ‘LUX Allies Against Workplace Sexism’ programme is structured as three module pillars – AWARE, ACT, and ALLY. It confronts participants with everyday scenarios in the workplace where women may face casual sexist remarks from colleagues – whether male or female – and gives simple yet effective actions to call out these belittling comments. 

To further drive home the agenda, LUX worked with organisational and behavioural scientist and indigenous rights advocate, Matthew J Yazzie, who specialises in workplace discrimination. Yazzie played a pivotal role in creating the content schedule for the modules. Part of them is him shedding light on casual sexism. 

The modules use short-form videos to highlight seemingly casual remarks that disempower individuals based on gender stereotypes and share how simple yet effective actions to call out belittling comments can make a difference. 

Nicolas Tran Dinh, global digital & masterbrand lead at LUX, shares, “Women, just like men, want to live in a world where they have equal opportunities to be their best selves. The first step in reducing the pressures of everyday sexism that women face starts with us. We must be more aware of our actions and be allies rather than bystanders to support women to rise above daily judgements. This is how we can build a world where men and women are celebrated equally and why we are providing this training as a free resource for all companies.” 

Echoing his comments, Hinoti Joshi, global business director from Wunderman Thompson, Singapore, who leads LUX communications, adds, “This is the next step in our Purpose journey towards our end goal of putting an end to everyday sexism. WT APAC and Unilever staff will be actively using it as part of our training to help empower and inspire a community of women and allies to speak up and hold their truth for their beliefs.” 

Anyone can access the Allies programme at no charge via LUX’s website and complete the modules to be a certified ‘ally’ against sexism.

Previously, LUX launched campaigns under its social inclusivity advocacy, the “In Her Shoes” and ‘UNSTOPPABLE” campaigns. In the past, the brand also released the ‘Finding Strength in Beauty’ 2021 whitepaper which shared data showing how discrimination against women continues to be prevalent in different forms.

Sydney, Australia – Wunderman Thompson in Australia has promoted Melissa Radman to the role of national design director. In her long-time career, she has been promoting design and creativity especially for up-and-coming talent in the industry, as a guest lecturer and industry advisor, portfolio judge and mentor.

Since returning from maternity leave, she has donated her time to the Perth Advertising and Design Club committee, bringing events to the industry for mental health and indigenous creativity.

Radman and her team have delivered consistently with their wholistic approach to strategic brand design including recently for West Australian Ballet, Steel Blue Boots, HSBC and state government utilities and initiatives. 

They are also driven by purposeful ambition and take pride in all the agency’s brand design projects being an integrated extension of a client’s brand strategy and creative output. 

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “I’m honoured to be appointed as National Design Director, and excited to welcome Nikki to the team for her internship, and hopefully beyond. The opportunity to work across the national Wunderman Thompson client base and stretch the boundaries of our strategic design thinking is amazing for the team, and for me personally”.

Meanwhile, Wunderman Thompson CEO Matt Parry commented, “Mel and her team bring a huge level of experience and creativity to our design offer nationally. It was a natural decision to place her in this important national role. We’re also excited about adding Nikki to the team and looking forward to giving her career a great kick-start at WT”.

In addition, the design team will be bolstered by the addition of Nikki Singh, one of four recipients of the Helen Lansdowne Resor (HLR) Scholarship. The scholarship is an international opportunity that aims to amplify historically marginalised voices in the creative industry. It provides females and non-binary university students the opportunities and support they need to successfully join the advertising industry’s creative ranks.

India – Writing instrument brand Pentonic has released a new film, demonstrating its product Pentonic GumStik. The ad was conceptualised alongside Wunderman Thompson Kolkata.

The film tells the story of a nerdy 10-year-old who loves Airplanes. He creates a model with a Pentonic GumStik and throws it in the air, which then embarks on an epic flight. The visual story is complemented by a unique sound design as it builds on the idea of kids using vocal effects while playing with toys. 

Deepak Jalan, managing director at Linc Pens, said, “Pentonic as a brand is designed to be unique. The GumStik is a transparent gum in unique black packaging and comes with Super Sticking Power. We needed a unique film to expand our mindshare among the target audience which is school-going kids and their parents.”

Meanwhile, Vijay Jacob Parakkal, managing partner at Wunderman Thompson Kolkata, commented, “We have been partnering with LINC Limited on the brand Pentonic since 2019 across multiple product and format launches. We are happy and proud to be part of their growth story.”

Lastly, Soumya Chowdhury, VP & CSD for client servicing at Wunderman Thompson Kolkata, said, “Pentonic GumStik is a new entrant in a category that is defined and created by a behemoth. We had to do something to get noticed. This is a film that attempts to do that. It retells the story of adhesive power in a way that is likely to stick around in the mind a bit longer.”

New York – Integrated marketing agency Wunderman Thompson, in collaboration with the 4A’s Foundation, has launched the 2022 Helen Lansdowne Resor Scholarship, an international opportunity that amplifies historically marginalised female and non-binary voices in the creative industry.

Recognizing the unparalleled creative force that Helen Lansdowne Resor has had as the first female copywriter in Wunderman Thompson’s history, the scholarship was developed to give female and non-binary students the opportunities and support they need to succeed in the creative ranks of the advertising industry.

The application period begins on November 14, 2022, and ends on January 6, 2023. Open to all female and non-binary students currently enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or portfolio program in a creative field. In total, four scholarships will be awarded to be announced in March 2023. 

Four recipients will receive a $10,000 scholarship grant, a paid internship at a Wunderman Thompson office in their respective region, a Wunderman Thompson mentor, and a ‘first look’ placement consideration upon graduation. Beneficiaries will be able to work directly with Wunderman Thompson’s creative teams and learn what it takes to succeed in the advertising industry.

Ezinne Okoro, global chief inclusion, equity and diversity officer at Wunderman Thompson said, “We’re excited to offer the Helen Lansdowne Resor Scholarship again this year. The previous year’s recipients all embraced their own unique forms of creative bravery and truly embodied Helen’s legacy.”

Okoro added, “As an agency, we want to continue to amplify the voices of creative women and non-binary individuals by giving them support, mentorship, and the opportunity to thrive in a widely male-dominated field. Our hope is to uplift this generation and create a more diverse, equitable, and truly inclusive future for our industry.”

Daniel Bonner and Bas Korsten, global chief creative officers at Wunderman Thompson stated, “Creativity takes courage, just as it took courage for Helen Lansdowne Resor to blaze a trail as one of the industry’s pioneers and first female creatives. It’s an honor to continue this tradition and invite female and non-binary students into the Wunderman Thompson family and give them a space to hone their creative thinking by working alongside the incredible creative talent across our global network.” 

Bangkok, Thailand – Thailand-based SCG Bi-ion, a tech solution for cleaning air indoors, has partnered with Wunderman Thompson to launch an innovative campaign that aims to encourage Thais, especially those living in the metro in Bangkok, to take the ‘extra’ step in breathing clean air. 

‘Bangkokians’ have been used to engulfing unhealthy air for a long time and may see intentional steps such as installing SCG Bi-ion’s tech as ‘vain’ rather than necessary. In order to prove its point that it’s just the opposite, the campaign, conceptualised by Wunderman, has developed a giant lung installation–made of defective face masks. 

The life-size art sculpture under the #CleanairMatters movement is formed through more than 60,000 defective face masks which aim to symbolise the number of Thais that have died from airborne diseases during the years 2019-2022. The huge installation bears a potent message at its base that says, ‘‘When was the last time you really breathed clean air?’’

Inside the monument gives an immersive sound experience of clean air areas such as a deep forest, beach, and waterfall. People can scan a QR code to learn more about the dangers of poor air quality, airborne inflicted illnesses, and ultimately, how to improve air quality with the SCG Bi-ion.

In addition to the giant lung installation, the brand’s campaign also launched another innovative on-ground initiative called the ‘Airbulance’, which is a mobile experiential space fitted with SCG Bi-ion. The mobile unit aims to let people experience breathing clean air effected by the brand’s tech. It reports a live monitoring of air quality index and passersby were invited to go inside it. 

The ‘Airbulance’

Wachirachai Koonamwattana, head of service solution business at SCG, said, “Under our axiom of ‘PASSION FOR BETTER LIVING’, SCG has always worked at our fullest capacity to integrate innovative solutions for living improvement. Especially, inside the buildings where we spent most of our time. Therefore, we have to ensure that indoor air quality must be clean and safe for everyone, so that our future generations can have the finest quality of life.”

Uraiwan Pongthavornsawat, associate creative director of Wunderman Thompson Thailand, commented, “Bad air is a life and death issue, with too many deaths caused by this. Thai people have silently put up with this problem long enough and I think it’s time we need to start a conversation and do something about it before it’s too late”. 

According to the agency, the campaign reached more than a million Bangkokians and dramatically garnered 1,300,000 THB in PR value. Social media also recorded above 30,000 social engagements, which triggered a lot of heated conversations on clean air.

The two initiatives have been followed by an original documentary film, ‘LIFE AND BREATH’, which tells the story of people working the most dangerous jobs and how they risk their lives from just breathing bad air.

India – To honour the Durga Puja celebration, which is an annual Hindu festival in India celebrated from 1 to 5 October, The Times of India (TOI), an Indian English-language daily newspaper under The Times Group, has launched a new campaign called ‘Maa Aashcen. Tumi Kothaye?’, which in English translates to ‘Maa Durga is coming home, where are you?’. This aims to celebrate togetherness and connection between loved ones during the festival.

Conceptualised by creative agency Wunderman Thompson India, the campaign showcases the feeling of belonging, togetherness, and reaching out to dear ones, who can’t be with their families this year during the festival. Loved ones will urge those separated to continue with the celebrations wherever they are. The idea is to remind them that they are with their families during this festive period and that is the real essence of Durga Puja.

The print campaign brings this alive by showcasing visuals of two friends connecting through a symbol of joining their hands to form a heart, while the video campaign is a tale of two friends, who now live in two different cities – Mumbai and Kolkata. The film also features actress Priyanka Sarkar and dancer, actress Sreenanda Shankar as friends who share their story of separation and how Durga Puja unites them.

Additionally, in an endeavour to connect with readers to celebrate with missed loved ones, TOI has invited them to share the pictures on www.phireyeshokolkata.com. Hundreds of entries from Kolkatans and Bengalis across the cities have been received. Select quotes have been featured in the newspaper.

Kaustuv Chatterjee, brand director of TOI and Languages, said, “TOI, India’s most trusted news brand, has always celebrated the incredibly rich socio-cultural fabric of our country. Durga Puja is one of the largest festivals in the nation, in which people from all sections and communities participate and come together, not just Bengalis, to seek Durga Ma’s blessings.”