CAREERS: BBDO names Pye as head of DM arm in Hong Kong

The agency has launched Proximity Hong Kong as part of its effort to add value to clients' businesses and complete the network's integrated communications skills.

Pye will take the role of managing director and executive creative director.

He will work alongside Anna Kamenskaya, director of client services. Both are former Rapp Collins executives, but left the agency after a decision was made to merge the business with sister agency Tribal DDB.

Pye, who has been in Hong Kong since 1992, worked at J. Walter Thompson's Dialogue for five years before joining Bates 141, where he handled the HSBC and Hong Kong Tourism Association (now Hong Kong Tourism Board) accounts.

He returned to the UK for a short period before joining Rapp Collins in Hong Kong.

"I was with Rapp when it was reborn in 2000," said Pye, adding that his recent decision to leave the agency was based on "differing opinions of where the agency would go".

Kamenskaya, meanwhile, came to Hong Kong in 2000 to finalise the Lowe merger with Lintas. She joined DDB shortly after to handle the Nortel account. "But, several weeks later, the Nortel (business) effectively came to an end as there was conflict between the top people on both sides," said Kamenskaya.

She worked on various accounts during her tenure at DDB, including ParkNShop, before joining Rapp Collins.

Proximity, which also has offices in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, is being positioned as a "fully integrated, fashionable and upbeat" agency.

It is in the process of hiring staff.