As part of the restructuring, the agency has promoted client service director, Choo Lee Peng, to group director, and Adele Wee to account director.
Hisham Sahudin, creative group head, was also promoted to creative director, replacing Bani Tan, who left the agency to pursue other interests.
Soon Lee Teck, chief executive officer at Publicis Malaysia, said: "What we've done is that there is one additional group director now (along with Maggie Chua). Previously, some of the account directors would report to me or to the chief operating officer. So the structure was CEO, COO and we acted as the management supervisors having a set of accounts we looked into."
Soon, who has maintained a hands-on approach at the agency, added that the new structure would enable junior account directors to report directly to the group director.
"(The structure) was so that I would know what was going on and my role was not just a PR one for the company. Basically we have reduced the team so that we have more senior people who can manage the accounts," said Soon.
Choo, who has been with the agency for five years, spent six years learning the ropes of client service management at Ogilvy & Mather. Creative director Sahudin has been with the agency for a year, and will manage a team of creatives and copywriters in his new role.
Wee, who previously worked at a local agency, joined Publicis as account director. She was soon promoted to associate account director. In her new post, she will continue to manage the L'Oreal and Yeo Hiap Seng accounts.
Soon added: "We believe in promoting from within. Only in cases where we can't find anyone suitable in the company will we go outside. You know there is a lot of poaching in this industry and people tend to switch jobs frequently so you need to reward those who deserve it."
