The five-member council is headed by Frederique Covington, former Southeast Asia planning director who will take on an expanded role as regional executive planning director.
Other members include: Dheeraj Sinha, vice president of strategic planning, overseeing India and West Asia; Manish Sinha, vice president, strategic planning, overseeing digital media; head of strategy Mike Wong, who oversees North Asia; and regional intelligence manager Guillaume Pagnoux.
Reporting to BatesAsia’s chief operating officer Digby Richards, the council aims to spot trend changes around the region and to implement these changes into strategies for their clients. “Bates is still largely a decentralised organisation and we want to build our agency around the philosophy of change. The only way to do it is to provide a regional level to this practice,” explained Covington. Digital, according to Covington, will be one of the main drivers of the council.
“We are not just selling TV spots but also digital tools that cross all platforms, from computers to mobile phones to gaming consoles. Digital is the way forward for our clients,” she noted. BatesAsia recently landed the account for Virgin Mobile in India.
It currently holds the activation and BTL components of key account Nokia despite losing out on the mobile giant’s global networking business to fellow WPP agency JWT.
