Julian Newby has taken the regional account lead for the two accounts across Greater China, while Amrita Randhawa has been named planning director on Nestlé. Both positions are Beijing-based.
Starting with the GroupM agency in the UK in 2002, Newby relocated to Asia two years, initially as MindShare Vietnam managing partner on Unilever, but more recently as managing director of the 75-person office. In the UK, Newby was the European director of Kimberly-Clark's Huggies brand and BP/Castrol.
Randhawa returns to the GroupM agency from her previous role as associate director of Starcom's Bangalore office, where she led strategic planning across account such as Toyota and SAB Miller.
In a separate development, MindShare has opened its fourth full-fledged office after the three top-tier cities, in Chengdu. The office will offer the full complement of services of research and buying in addition to planning. Maisie He, who previously worked with Maxis Beijing as planning director, will head Chengdu, a market that continues to attract luxury big-name brands, including Prada, Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
"Chengdu is like the Latin America of China. The consumer mindset here is very different from the rest of China -- if consumers have $10 in their pocket, they will spend $9 for shopping," said Bessie Lee, GroupM's China chief executive officer.
The Chengdu office, which will have a team of 12 in the first year, kicked off with two local clients -- home appliance company Changhong and pharma group En Wei, both were previously handled out of Beijing.
