Move and win roundup: McCann, TBWA, BBH, Ogilvy, Y&R and more

PEOPLE MOVES

McCann Worldgroup Japan appointed Kenji Shimizu as general manager of Craft Worldwide in Japan, effective March 15. He joins from Wunderman, where he ran creative and production operations for clients including Microsoft and Dell. He will be charged with “reinventing” the Craft operation in Japan.

TBWA Sydney hired Matt Springate, currently managing planning partner at Grey London, as chief strategy officer. He will join TBWA Sydney at the beginning of July.

Y&R Group Indonesia appointed Upasana Dua as head of planning. She was previously director of planning at Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi Indonesia.

Iris Singapore appointed Joanna Chua and Daryl Ho as business directors and Hermione Pooley as associate account director. The agency also promoted Natalie Cooke to client service director.

Ogilvy Sydney appointed Juliette Tobias-Webb as behaviour change lead of OgilvyChange, and Jason Westerman as senior strategy director of Ogilvy Sydney. Tobias-Webb was most recently a research fellow and holds a doctorate in Psychology from the University of Cambridge. Westerman was previously client services director at Red Engine.

Independent agency network Project Worldwide appointed Richard Bradley as its first-ever APAC chief creative officer. He joins from Jack Morton Worldwide, where he was ECD of Sydney and Singapore.

DigitasLBi hired Judy Cheong as senior account director. Previously associate digital and social strategy director at Social@Ogilvy, Cheong will work primarily on DigitasLBi’s UOB account.  

MHP Communications appointed Kelly Johnston as general manager of its new Singapore office. She previously held senior roles with consultancies BBS in Singapore, and PPR in Sydney and has worked in-house with Emirates and Lion Beer, Spirits & Wine in Australia. 

BBH Singapore hired Tim Lindley as managing partner for Black Sheep Studios. Lindley joins from Red Bull where he was head of owned media and communications for Asia. 

Pranav Rastogi joined Singapore PR firm Redhill Communications as communications strategy manager. Previously based in India, Rastogi arrived from BML Munjal University, which he helped found, where he was in charge of marketing and communications.  

ICYMI: Other news we covered this week Hakuhodo hires Yang Yeo in bid to become a more serious player in Asia IPG Mediabrands revamps Rally Worldwide in Hong Kong Woohyun Nam named CEO of DAN Korea WPP China CEO Bessie Lee resigns

BUSINESS WINS

J. Walter Thompson Pakistan won Ufone’s creative and digital account after a pitch. The mobile carrier is owned by Etisalat Group Company. The country had more than 160 million mobile subscribers last year, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Innisfree Malaysia named VML as it’s social media agency of record in the country. The cosmetics brands is looking to build its brand in a competitive Malaysian industry, with VML handling digital marketing, social media management, analytics and reporting.

Infiniti appointed WE Communications to handle PR and communications for its Infiniti Lab programme in Singapore, an eight-week accelerator event connecting startups with automotive and connectivity experts. WE will take charge of media strategy, and engaging social, technology and lifestyle influencers.  

The Hoffman Agency APAC was named PR agency of record for Bangkok-based eatigo, the online restaurant reservations platform. The agency will handle a regional communications campaign, as well as reputation management and influencer relations. 

GolinOpinion won the PR mandate for Indian property website MagicBricks. The agency is charged with growing MagicBricks’ presence in India’s online real estate market.  

Hong Kong communications consultancy CatchOn won the brand development and PR mandate for The Murray, a Niccolo Hotel. The property, which is in the former Murray Building, will open in late 2017. 

Singapore’s The Ate Group was appointed the communications agency for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts and Potato Head Family. The agency also hired Sharon Lim, former editor-in-chief of ELLE Singapore, as strategic content director. 

OTHER NEWS

Hakuhodo Singapore creative director James Keng Lim was selected to head this year’s Crowbar Awards, presented by the Singapore 4As. The awards programme, open to entries from across the region, provides a way for budding creatives to showcase their best ideas. The call for entries will be in June.

J. Walter Thompson is accepting applications for its third annual Helen Lansdowne Resor (HLR) Scholarship, and the programme now includes eligible schools in Australia, Pakistan, Singapore, China, India and Japan. Named after the industry’s and JWT’s first female copywriter, the programme awards five individual scholarships up to $10,000. Winners are offered a paid summer internship with a JWT office in their region, a mentor and a “first look” placement consideration upon graduation. For further information see www.jwt.com/hlrscholarship.