Move and win roundup: Week of October 16, 2017

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover October 16 through through 20, 2017.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

PEOPLE MOVES

M&C Saatchi announced that Cam Blackley, currently executive creative director at BMF, will join in March as chief creative officer, filling the vacancy left when Andy DiLallo departed in November 2016 (DiLallo is now CCO at TBWA Sydney). A highly-awarded creative, Blackley was an original Droga5 employee in New York and launched the agency's now-closed Sydney office in 2008 before joining BMF.

Reckitt Benckiser promoted Taha Durrani to the position of marketing manager in Pakistan. This is Durrani's first promotion since joining the British multinational last August. In this new role, Durrani will lead brand communications, trade marketing, and medical marketing for the healthcare portfolio in Pakistan. He will take P&L ownership of power-brands such as Gaviscon, Strepsils, Disprin, Disprol, and Durex.

The New York Times Company appointed Tom Armstrong, most recently chief revenue officer at Fairfax Media’s Metro Publishing division, as vice president of advertising for Asia Pacific. The company also announced the opening of a Singapore sales office, where Armstrong will be based. Alexandra Benard will oversee the Singapore office as advertising sales director. She joins from Politico Europe Brussels where she managed advertising, events and content partnerships for global brands. 

App Annie appointed Cindy Deng as managing director, Asia Pacific. She was most recently  at Turn, where she was responsible for P&L, strategy and daily operations in Asia-Pacific.

Edelman appointed Ranjit Jathanna as chief strategy officer for client programming in APACMEA (Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa). He starts 1 November in Singapore, reporting to Rupen Desai, executive vice chairman of Edelman APACMEA. Perviously Jathanna was chief strategy officer at MullenLowe in Singapore. 

MediaCom promoted Paul Waller, currently head of investment strategy for MediaCom China, to a newly-created role as head of investment strategy for North Asia. He will continue to report to Rupert McPetrie, CEO of MediaCom China, and Simon Broderick, APAC chief investment officer. His new role is effective immediately and he will continue to be based in Shanghai.

Telenor appointed Khuram Rahat as the head of its data as a service (DaaS) initiative. Rahat leaves behind his role as the managing director of Teradata, a position he held for ten years.

Jonathan Parry joined Spurwing Communications as an account director. He was formerly country partnerships manager with Grow Asia and has also served in the corporate affairs team at Syngenta in APAC and ASEAN roles.

Ogilvy Brisbane appointed Andy Geppert as head of art and Richard Taylor as creative director. Geppert was previously founding partner at Cummins, and also held roles at McCann, Publicis and Clemenger Brisbane. Taylor has held consulting roles at M&C Saatchi, WhiteGREY, and DDB in Sydney.

Al Rahim Textiles appointed Tariq Hameed Siddiqui as head of e-commerce, replacing Shayan Razzak. Hameed was previously digital business manager for SanaSafinaz, leading the P&L of the e-commerce portfolio. He took three team members with him, namely Ayesha Siddiqui, Mujadid Durrani, and Fahad Mateen.

TCS Yayvo appointed Ali Raza Bajwa as the head of category management, reporting to Shahzad Anwar, the head of brand partnerships. Bajwa will be streamlining the commercial and marketing side of the business.

SanaSafinaz promoted Moeed Sheikh to digital business manager, following the departure of Tariq Hameed Siddiqui.

Digital creative agency AnalogFolk hired Shereen O’Brien as director of strategy for Asia. She most recently worked for Imagination, The Walt Disney Company, and J Walter Thompson. Based in Hong Kong, O’Brien will report to Chris Ryan, managing director and partner.

BUSINESS WINS

NetApp appointed Text100 to drive a brand transformation effort in Asia Pacific following local competitive pitches across the region. Text100 has been appointed as the APAC lead agency out of Singapore, and as the local agency of record in Australia / New Zealand, and Malaysia. The pair have already worked together in India for over seven years. Text100 will be responsible for integrated communications strategy and campaigns, multi-channel content for both external and internal audiences. 

Pfizer China appointed Leo Burnett Shanghai as its creative agency for Viagra. This marks a milestone for the brand as it has almost never advertised due to the strict marketing policies for prescription medicines.

OTHER NEWS

Commercial Radio Australia retained GfK as its audience measurement provider for another five-year contract. The contract includes a multi-million-dollar MIP (Measurement Innovation Program) to explore a hybrid future for radio measurement.

BBC Worldwide announced a co-production deal with Tencent for Blue Planet II, the BBC’s natural history series this year. The seven-part series will premiere simultaneously in China and the UK on Tencent’s v.qq.com platform and video app. Tencent will also distribute Blue Planet II across digital on-demand platforms in Greater China. 

Indochine Media Ventures (IMV) will take over the licence of Esquire Singapore from Mongoose Publishing effective 1 November.