Google hires former BBDO leader to head Creative Works SEA

Longtime Omnicom Group leader Joe Braithwaite has relocated back to Singapore to head Google's agency-like team Creative Works in Southeast Asia, Campaign Asia-Pacific can reveal.

Braithwaite has been with Omnicom Group for 13 years. He was formerly the general manager of BBDO and its digital and CRM-focused creative agency Proximity in Singapore for eight-and-a-half years. He returned to the UK in 2017 to lead Proximity London. In late 2020, following Omnicom's integration of Proximity and Rapp, he became MD of Rapp UK.

Prior to Omnicom Group, Braithwaite was a business director at Iris Worldwide across both London and Singapore.

Creative Works sits within the global Google sales organisation. Its purpose is to work with brands and partners to explore creative uses of the tech giant’s platforms, insights and technologies. The division houses a range of talent including creative experts and strategists, technologists, account directors and producers. It works alongside the sales and marketing teams to help consult and educate their clients.

As head of Creative Works in Southeast Asia, Braithwaite's role will be to "amplify, accelerate and celebrate the vital role creativity plays in both Google's customer and partner success", according to the company.

Braithwaite told Campaign Asia-Pacific: "My career to date has instilled and nurtured my passion for three things—creativity, technology and Asia—and I couldn't be happier that this new role brilliantly blends all three. I'm very much looking forward to working closely with the region's most inspirational creative agencies, alongside the region's most innovative brand teams, all in service of unlocking next level marketing effectiveness."