Yap replaces Roger Pe, who left the agency and Malaysia to join Golden Communications in Vietnam last year.
Grenville Francis, a copywriter at DDBI sister agency Naga DDB, had been running the creative department in the interim. Neal Estavillo, chief executive of DDBI, said: “Yap fits in with where I want DDB to be. He has the balance just right between creative excellence and business sense. The creative department has been priority number one since I arrived. For any vision to be realised, you have to have the product to back it up.”
The shop currently has 43 staff, and Estavillo intends to beef up headcount to 55 by next month. “We have a wide base, but it’s a junior base. We need seniority,” he said.
However, Yap joins at a difficult time for DDB International. Last week saw two accounts shift to Magic Makers, an agency run by former DDBI chief executive Florence Loh. Slumberland, an account that has followed Loh wherever she has worked in recent years, and health product retailer Vistern, which has used DDBI on a project basis, have both shifted. However Robinson’s, a large department store, has not moved, contrary to rumours.
Loh is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with her former employers over the terms of her departure.
Yap is calling time on a 10-year stint at DraftFCB, where he worked on accounts including Yellow Pages, Samsung, New Zealand Milk and Telekom Malaysia.
During his time there, he collected awards at Cannes and The One Show. Prior to DraftFCB he had a two-year spell at BBDO, working on clients such as KFC, Olivetti, ICI and FedEx. He also spent a short time at Y&R, overseeing creative output on the Toyota, Kraft and Shell accounts.
Yap began his career at Ogilvy & Mather in 1990, cutting his teeth on the Nestlé, American Express and Sime EUP business.
