“My new role will involve expanding the skill set of Proximity. We have grown from 12 to 26 people in 10 months. We want to hire more people on the interactive side to cope with demand for digital work from clients such as Maxis Hotlink,” said Chan.
Chan was hired as CEO in 1997 and took control of Proximity in 2003. She became the first female head of a Malaysian agency in 1994 when she was named MD of JWT. Her career has spanned more than 25 years with stints in Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. “Within two years, I want BBDO to be dominating creative competitions. We are already a top three agency with billings of around RM120 million (US$35 million). But I want us to push on from here.”
Chris Thomas, chairman and CEO of BBDO Asia, said: “If you go to the Malaysian office, you will see it embodies a number of BBDO values. The profile of the agency is extremely well managed.”
