Move and win roundup: Week of September 18, 2017

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover September 18 through 22, 2017.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

PEOPLE MOVES

Publicis Media agency Blue 449 Sydney announced that COO James Simmons will be leaving at the end of January and Duncan Parfitt, currently head of performance and analytics, is promoted to managing director effective immediately. Parfitt reports to CEO John Preston. Simmons and Preston co-founded Match Dialogue in 2007, which merged with Match Integration to form Match Media, which Publicis Groupe acquired in June 2015 and rebranded in January this year.

DDB Singapore hired Anton Reyniers as regional planning director, focused on the ExxonMobil account for Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. He joined from Ogilvy in Indonesia, where he was group strategy director. 

Essence APAC announced two new hires to its regional leadership team. Stephen Tomkins is the new APAC head of media activation, joining from Publicis where he spent six years across New York, Beijing and Singapore. Haruna McWilliams joined as regional strategy director, a newly-created role. She was most recently global planning director at Leo Burnett Singapore. 

MediaCom APAC promoted Charlotte Goddard, previously regional client director, to head of business development for the region, reporting to Mark Heap, CEO of MediaCom APAC. Goddard joined the APAC team in 2015 from MediaCom London.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) has hired Malcolm Ong as head of product to develop new products and platforms. Ong previously led a number of new product initiatives at US ride-sharing platform Lyft. 

Hitachi Vantara promoted Radwa Hassan to the head of marketing and communications for emerging EMEA markets. This marks her second promotion since joining Hitachi in 2016.

DigitasLBi appointed Sridhar Gadhiraju as data strategy director for Singapore, a newly created role. He joins from London where he was a CRM strategist on Compare-the-market.com, and reports to Patrick Milburn, APAC head of data and analytics.

British Centres for Business promoted Tamreez Inam to the head of consumer and retail. This is her second promotion since joining the company in 2015.

Wavemaker, the GroupM agency formed by the merger of MEC and Maxus, appointed Cindy Lin as managing director in Taiwan. She was most recently head of marketing at JP Morgan Taiwan, and her last agency job was as head of digital and group account director at Leo Burnett Taiwan.

BenQ Corporation appointed Yassine Regragui as marketing manager for the Middle East and Turkey.

Dentsu Aegis Network's entertainment content unit The Story Lab appointed Donovan Castillo-Mohlman, previously global director of content strategy with Iflix, as president, Asia Pacific, effective immediately. He succeeds Shuntaro Tanaka, who will step down as president and move to Dentsu Inc. in Japan. Castillo-Mohlman has worked with NBCUniversal, AMC Networks International and Fox Broadcasting as well as local broadcasters StarTV and Mediacorp. He will report to Sunil Yadav, president of Amplifi Asia Pacific, and Michael Iskas, global president of The Story Lab.

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) promoted Mamatha Morvankar, previously the MD for OMD India (West), to chief investment officer for OMG India. She will be responsible for investment, accountability and strategic partnerships across four offices and for all clients across OMD and PHD.

BUSINESS WINS

VML was appointed digital agency of record for Legoland Malaysia Resort. The agency will handle all of the resort's digital marketing on a one-year remit. 

Concluding a three-way pitch, Sime Darby Property Berhad selected Kingdom Digital as its agency-of-record for digital creative duties, effective September 1. Kingdom Digital will be responsible for concept and execution of online ad campaigns for a large portfolio of Sime Darby Property townships across Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan. The scope also includes display ads and electronic direct mailers for all new property launches, products and seasonal campaigns. Clare Kenny Tipton, chief marketing and sales officer at Sime Darby Property, cited agility and ability to deliver consistently as factors in the selection.

British Council appointed AKA Asia its communications agency in Singapore. The agency will handle creative communications strategy across traditional and social media. 

OTHER NEWS

US mobile ad tech company Kargo signed a partnership with Australian magazine publisher Pacific. Kargo will provide its premium, brand-safe ad inventory to Pacific publications on mobile, and comes shortly after the company's launch in New Zealand. (Read more) 

The Australian launched a Chinese-language online edition at cn.theaustralian.com.au. The website will be updated weekdays with coverage and analysis from "across the masthead", according to the News Corp-owned publication.

The Wall Street Journal will cease print publication for Singapore subscribers. (Read more)

Singapore payments provider NETS (Network for Electronic Transfers) issued an RFI (request for information) seeking creative and media agencies interested in pitching for roles in strategic branding, social engagement, creative production, and media strategy and buying. (Read more)

Fox Networks Group Asia launched its Fox+ video-streaming service in Taiwan through Chunghwa Telecom.

Finn Partners announced an agreement to acquire ABI Marketing Public Relations. Finn Partners' presence in Singapore will be represented by ABI's Singapore office and its Asia Pacific headquarters, Ying Communications.