CAREERS: Brnicevic moves to head Shangri-La

For Brnicevic - who was raised and schooled in Singapore before completing her degree at the London School of Economics - it will be her second agency stint in Asia: the first being in 1993 as account executive with BBDO Singapore with a remit to handle travel assignments, such as Silk Air.

But by 1995, she wanted to gain international experience and so accepted an offer to join TBWA\London, where she has worked for the past nine years in a number of senior roles, with responsibility for global accounts, including Philip Morris, Absolut Vodka, Cadbury and French Connection.

"At the time, I decided to go to London because I felt I needed to gain a more global perspective in order to try to develop my potential to the fullest," said Brnicevic.

She revealed that advertising was her first career choice. "It's a profession which is harder than it looks because it requires a combination of people skills and creativity to bring out the best in oneself and others when attempting to attain the goals and objectives that our clients have."

TBWA\Asia-Pacific regional chairman Keith Smith described Brnicevic as "talented" and as someone who would "really add a lot of style to our operation."

Brnicevic reports directly to Neil Ducray, the agency's Hong Kong managing director.

For the moment, Brnicevic's brief covers only the Hong Kong-based Shangri-La brand. However, she stressed that the assignment currently takes up the majority of her time.

"Shangri-La is currently expanding with more than 40 hotels in operation and as that number is growing my main role will be to help grow the agency team on the brief to ensure the best possible service, providing the best possible results for the client," said Brnicevic.

Shangri-La manages hotels across Asia-Pacific including Australia, Greater China, Southeast Asia and the United Arab Emirates.

It currently has 20 projects under development. Recent properties that have come online include a five-star hotel in northern Queensland in Australia as well as deluxe developments in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Chengdu, China.

Shangri-La is expected to launch a major, regional campaign to continue building its brand later in the year.