Globe CRM chief defects to Proximity

Leah Besa-Jimenez, currently head of Globe Telecom's wireless CRM unit, will join in March as general manager, followed in April by executive creative director Tony Sarmiento, who is returning to the BBDO fold after a two-year absence. Besa-Jimenez also boasts agency experience -- she was a business director with Ogilvy & Mather units before Globe, while Sarmiento is currently with Grey Malaysia's global business unit. Paul Roebuck, head of BBDO Guerrero Ortega, noted that the local marketing services scene was largely execution -- rather than strategic-led, and thus offered an untapped opportunity for the Omnicom shop. "Proximity has the potential to deliver in a more strategic manner with the tools it has and the people we are bringing on board, who have CRM, direct and relationship marketing skills." The pair will join a core team of 12 creative, account and studio talent who have been in place since Proximity's soft launch last year. The agency's chairman and chief creative officer David Guerrero said Besa-Jimenez's hire would allow the office to sharpen its offering in the burgeoning mobile communications market, which boasts about 30 million handset owners. "The mobile phone in the Philippines is equal to the PC in the West," said he said, noting however that most of the wireless activity was limited to selling downloads rather than establishing brand relationships with consumers. "This is one reason why Leah is such a good fit coming from one of the largest wireless operators in the country," he added.