Move and win roundup: BBDO, GroupM, Ogilvy, IPG Mediabrands, Kantar Public and more

PEOPLE MOVES

BBDO Asia announced that Joe Braithwaite, GM of BBDO Singapore, will transfer to Proximity London as MD. Richard Fraser, president of BBDO Southeast Asia, will assume the role until a replacement is found. 

IPG Mediabrands Hong Kong appointed Kate Wong, previously director at Mindshare HK, as business director; while Penny Chow​, previously business partner at Ogilvy, was also named business director.

Kantar Public, a research-based government and public-sector advisory business, launched its Singapore office and appointed Sandra Lim as executive director. She joins from MRC, where she was general manager.

BBC Advertising ANZ hired Luke Fox as programmatic account manager. He joins from Dentsu Aegis Network, where he worked in programmatic, media-partnership, and planning roles.

Ogilvy Public Relations Australia appointed Leon Beswick as Ogilvy Corporate Group managing director. He was previously managing director of Ogilvy PR Health. 

Media agency Bohemia appointed Alex Skorokhod as group intelligence director and Kate Kennett as senior content manager. Skorokhod was IPG Mediabrands’ head of new product development and Kennett was with Denstu Aegis Network digital agency Columbus.

Ogilvy & Mather Indonesia promoted Marianne Admardatine to chief growth officer.  She was previously head of corporate communications and business development and will continue to serve as managing director for both Ogilvy Public Relations and Pulse Communications.

The Hoffman Agency hired Jason Cao (曹越) to lead its China operations as general manager. He will oversee Beijing and Shanghai operations and provide strategic counsel, with a focus on Chinese brands expanding globally. He joins from WE Communications China, where he was the general manager in Beijing, tech practice head and business development lead.

Turner Southeast Asia named Vishal Dembla vice president and general manager, a newly created role. In addition to oversight of all commercial lines including ad-sales and content sales, he will lead programming, creative services and marketing departments for all of Turner’s kids and entertainment brands and his team will also handle the network distribution side of the business. He was previously responsible for distribution and content sales in Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. His expanded geographical remit now also includes Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Celestial Tiger Entertainment hired Vanessa Parmisano as director, advertising sales for the Philippines. Previously the manager for airtime sales and partnerships for Fox Networks Group, Parmisano will be in-charged of advertising sales business especially for KIX and Thrill channels.

GroupM announced several leadership changes in Thailand, leading with the appointment of Kevin Clarke as the chairman for Thailand and Myanmar. Clarke was previously the CEO while Siwat Chawareewong and Niklas Stalberg were both named as Clarke’s replacement. Siwat and Stalberg were most recently CEO and COO, respectively, for mInteraction, the digital business unit for GroupM Thailand.  

Amnet, Dentsu Aegis Network’s programmatic agency, has appointed Joshua Campanella as regional account director to manage client strategy for Southeast Asia, leading teams across five Amnet offices including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Mindshare has brought in Zaheer Travadi as partner for Mindshare FAST, Southeast Asia.  Zaheer worked with FAST in his last venture with Crayon Data at Singapore and was previously digital media head for Hindustan Unilever.  

Audience data firm Eyeota has added Tomoyuki (Tommy) Ikeda as its new head of business development for Japan to drive sales and expand the firm’s footprint in the market.

DDB made two new hires alongside its new China CEO Danny Mok: Lawrence Li (李琰) as general manager of the local business unit at its Shanghai office and Matthew Cheng (郑文达) as general manager of national business development. Li joins DDB from McCann Erickson China and Cheng comes on board from Leo Burnett China.

Wunderman Taiwan named former Cerebos executive, Jill Chang (张玫), as managing director and promoted Eliza Tsai (蔡淑盈) to deputy general manager of the same office. At Cerebos, Chang’s role was director of direct and digital business; and Tsai was previously business director for one a-and-a-half years.

David Cong (丛远华) has a new job as co-founder and managing partner at Global Commerce Partners in the San Francisco Bay Area. He switched to the private equity sector only last month, after more than a year as the global chief marketing officer at China’s BlueFocus Communication Group.

ICYMI: Other moves, wins and deals we covered this week: Isobar promotes Tim Doherty to APAC chief creative officer DDB China's Richard Tan gives way to Danny Mok Australia's DT to join AKQA network MediaLink to open in Hong Kong within weeks after sale to Ascential Exclusive: Cheil wins China Unicom account in 11-way pitch WPP launches new health and wellness sub-holding company Tribal Worldwide wins AOR appointment for Volkswagen in Singapore Hakuhodo acquires activation company Integrated Communications Nigel Vaz named global president of DigitasLBi as Luke Taylor exits

BUSINESS WINS

GolinOpinion won the PR mandate for food-brand Dr. Oetker in India, following a pitch. The agency will be tasked with building a strategic framework for Dr. Oetker India by establishing the brand’s core values and strengthening its positioning as a leader in the western-cuisine sector.

Indian consultancy Pitchfork Partners has been signed by BBC Worldwide to advise them on their communications strategy and campaigns.