Move and win roundup: Week of September 5, 2022

Yeap Ming Feng, former head of marketing at financial platform Seedly has taken over as head of the company after the departure of Kenneth Lou and Tee-Ming Chew, co-founders of Seedly. Yeap will report to Ian Hutchinson, Hyphen Group Singapore’s general manager, formerly known as CompareAsiaGroup and Seedly’s parent company. For seven years, he was part of the leadership team involved in organising Seedly’s Personal Finance Festival and also involved in business development and partnerships efforts in Singapore, as well as managing local media communications for all Seedly’s milestone announcements.

Creative and technology group MSQ has launched a new MSQ Global Studios proposition that includes hubs in Singapore and Shanghai. MSQ Studios Asia will be overseen by Andy Edmonds, who recently joined MSQ from Media.Monks, where he was senior regional growth director for APAC. Edmonds, who has also worked at Havas Media Group in the UK, will lead MSQ Studios’ Singapore hub, whilst MSQ Studios Shanghai will be led by Caroline So and Fili Chung.

Global production company Sweetshop has signed comedy director Trevor Clarence for representation in Asia. Described as having "the wit of Cristiano Ronaldo and the body of Will Ferrell," Clarence brings a cinematic touch to his comedy and ad making.

B2B tech marketing specialist The Marketing Practice has acquired account-based marketing demand and media specialists Rombii in APAC. Rombii’s founder Sam Howell and its managing director Marcus Wilkinson will remain in their roles. Through this latest acquisition, The Marketing Practice adds to its market-leading demand generation and ABM portfolio and will now employ over 80 people in Australia and Singapore.

Australian data quality and email marketing firm Validity has relaunched its partner program, naming  Platonic Ideal, New Blue Interactive, Reach Marketing, and Jarrang as new additions. 

Tug has been reappointed by Budget Direct Insurance for managing its digital marketing. Back in 2020, Tug was engaged by Budget Direct Insurance to manage link acquisition and competitor analysis to boost local search rankings. In this new partnership, Tug’s scope has been extended to include content, UX and conversion rate optimisation services, content strategy and landing page experience. The account will be managed by Darran Hong, the recently appointed SEO director at Tug Singapore, after the agency opened its doors in Southeast Asia earlier this year.

Iris Worldwide has appointed Cristina Sanchez aka Tin as its new ECD in Singapore. Prior to this, she was ECD at VMLY&R and deputy ECD for Wunderman Thompson in The Philippines. She has worked on brands including J&J, P&G, McDonald’s, Pfizer and Unilever. In her new role, she will report to Andy Cairns, managing director at Iris Worldwide.

Essence, part of WPP’s GroupM, has been chosen as the integrated media agency of record by Rebel Foods in India. Led out of the Mumbai office, Essence’s scope of work will include strategy, analytics, media planning and media activation for the internet restaurant company’s brand marketing activities.

Brand and customer experience agency, VMLY&R is entering into a strategic partnership with Shanghai-based technology firm, Loncus Network Technology Company, to create a new technology hub which will support the agency’s growing Experience & Technology work. Eyeing a July 2022 opening, Loncus is ramping up services through positions spanning CX development, maintenance, and publishing to further support clients.

The Public Relations and Communications Association Asia Pacific (PRCA APAC) has named Thanzyl Thajudeen MPRCA as its first country representative in Sri Lanka. Spearheading the strategy in the local context, Thajudeen will actively engage with industry leaders, practitioners within agencies and organisations in Sri Lanka. Thajudeen is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) with over 10 years of experience in advising, managing, and PR.

MiQ has named James Parker as head of revenue and growth for Southeast Asia (SEA). Parker will be responsible for leading MiQ’s sales and commercial approach in the region to expand and accelerate the programmatic company’s growth. Parker was previously VP of platform and agency growth at Amobee in Singapore and part of its Southeast Asian Leadership team. With this appointment, former SEA managing director, Marcus D'Souza will transition back to London in a new global commercial role and all MiQ’s SEA sales leads will report to Parker.

Mason Games Sdn. Bhd., a mobile game development studio has been acquired by Iglobsys Technology Sdn. Bhd. for US$1 million. The acquisition takes place a year after the establishment of Mason Games in July 2021, will bolster the studio’s growth in various areas including embarking on their maiden blockchain game project. In addition, the studio plans to set up a game development office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in Q4 2022.

 Adtech data solutions company Lotame has strengthened its APAC leadership team with the following appointments:

• Nishanth Raju, former VP, commercial and strategy is now the managing director for the Southeast Asia.
• Former SEA managing director, Fred Marthoz, will transition to the newly created role of VP of global partnerships. He will be based in London and has been with Lotame for over six years in various roles across APAC and EMEA regions.

The Marketing Practice has acquired APAC-based ABM, demand and media company Rombii. The acquisition, the company’s first in the region and its fifth globally in the last 18 months, will accelerate growth across APAC.

Akcelo names Simon McCrudden as partner, group brand strategy to deepen the company’s brand capability across local and international markets. McCrudden will oversee brand strategy, research and effectiveness for Akcelo’s portfolio of Australian and global clients across its network of offices in Sydney, Melbourne and North America. He will be based in Melbourne and work alongside Akcelo’s chief strategy officer and partner, Dave Di Veroli and Melbourne managing partner, Jon Kenyon.

Global brand agency Dragon Rouge Singapore has appointed Gökçe Şahbaz as its new executive creative director for the Southeast Asia market. Şahbaz joins Dragon Rouge from Holmes&Marchant / Elmwood where he was creative director for the region. Prior to that he was in senior creative roles at Path, Design Bridge, Publicis, Grey and Leo Burnett.

Annalect, Omnicom Media Group’s data and analytics division, has strengthened its regional leadership team with three key appointments. The appointments are as follows:

• Ravikumar Shankar as chief data solutions officer
• Nina Fedorczuk as chief enablement officer 
• Kothandaram Venkatakrishnan as chief client officer

Shankar was previously Annalect’s data & technology lead for APAC and has led the network’s data innovation capabilities. Fedorczuk has been a part of the OMG network for 15 years. Venkatakrishnan most recently served as managing director at Annalect in New York, responsible for transforming data and analytics operations for Nissan.

Movember has appointed DDB Group Melbourne as its global creative agency of record, following a competitive pitch.The agency responded to the brief in collaboration with counterparts Adam&eve DDB in the UK and DDB Chicago in the US. It will now lead the creative direction of the men’s health charity, working alongside Movember’s in-house creative studio.

Bonsey Jaden has appointed Sherwin Kukreja as its new head of social, based in Malaysia. Prior to this, he was head of social media at Yoodo and senior social media manager at Leo Burnett. 

Icon Agency has appointed Gabrielle Gray as new general manager. This newly created role will see Gray lead the commercial strategy of the business. Based out of Icon’s Sydney office, Gray joined Icon in late 2021 in a consulting capacity to manage finance and resourcing on a number of key client accounts.

GMR Sports has appointed Interbrand, to conceive and design a new brand strategy and identity for their ‘Yoddhas’ franchise. GMR Sports’ ‘Yoddhas’ franchise, which includes two sports teams – ‘UP Yoddhas’ and ‘Telugu Yoddhas’. For the ‘UP Yoddhas’, which has been a part of the Pro Kabaddi League since 2017, Interbrand reinvented the brand’s identity. 

The New Zealand Automobile Association (The AA) has partnered with InMoment to launch a transformational experience improvement programme. The AA wants to improve its service it delivers to members, and by using InMoment’s XI platform, it hopes to better understand the experience of both new and current members. The XI Platform will support the AA with multi-channel engagement and through better customer journey analytics will provide the AA with greater clarity on membership renewal and churn drivers. In the long term, the AA will be able to use relationship surveys and real-time feedback to identify areas of improvement, so that the customer experience can be streamlined.

Meenakshi Menon has joined the board of Icogz, a business intelligence platform, as chairperson. Menon launched Spatial Access, India's first marketing audit and advisory company, in 2003. Over 17 years, she and her team worked across categories and industries both in India and across APAC. 

Red Havas Australia has reshaped its leadership team to reflect local opportunities and its global focus on key growth areas; health and wellness, corporate PR and reputation management, technology and e-commerce, consumer, and lifestyle, automotive and mobility, travel and hospitality and employee engagement.

Effective immediately, the changes include:

• Simone Gupta, CEO Havas PR Australia leading Red Havas, Havas Blvd, One Green Bean and Organic, will continue in her role and report into James Wright, global CEO Red Havas, and global chairman of the Havas PR Global Collective.
• Red Havas managing director, Steve Fontanot, will take up a new role, commercial managing director for APAC that will include M&A and commercial partnerships.
• Kate Smailes, executive director, Havas Blvd is promoted to managing partner, Havas Blvd and chief client officer with a remit to drive growth across brand experience and the automotive and mobility category.
• Alex Bryant, executive director, Sydney PR is now the managing partner consumer and brand, with a remit to drive the consumer and creative offering across the agency.
• Sue Cook, practice head of health, is elevated to managing partner health and wellbeing supported by Nicole Phillips, executive director. Phillips will join the senior leadership team.
• Matt Thomas, previously the executive director, corporate and public affairs gets promoted to managing partner corporate and public affairs, with a remit to drive the corporate PR, public affairs and employee engagement offering with an expanded remit across the leadership of the Melbourne office.
• Haylie Marchant, executive director, Brisbane, is the new managing partner, with a continued remit to grow the Queensland operation and expanded responsibilities across the agency.

Further to Campaign Asia-Pacific’s report last week, Edelman Singapore has announced Julia Wei as CEO. Wei will report to Adrian Warr, Southeast Asia CEO, as she spearheads the next chapter of growth in the APAC region. Read all the details here.

In addition, Yeelim Lee has been promoted to COO for Singapore, and will partner with Wei to build on business operations in the region. The new leadership team in Singapore also includes:

• Nisha Sivanandan will lead on strategy and client leadership.
• Jonathan Ha will oversee digital, creative and production.
• Amanda Lam will oversee HR.
• Xi Ling Lee is the business’ finance director.

Media buying platform Blis has hired SBS media executive Natalie Muir as insights lead for APAC. Muir has over 20-years’ experience in audience strategy and research and has previously worked in research and audience insight roles at oOH!, Macquarie Radio Network, and Commercial Radio Australia. Her appointment would add to the company's data and insights capabilities in Australia and Asia.

Following a surge in new client wins, Australian communications firm Sefiani adds six new clients to the roster.

• Mullion Group’s FLINTpro, is a data integration SaaS product built to measure, forecast, and report land-related carbon and greenhouse gas emissions for climate-positive decision-making. Sefiani will aid the Mullion Group to develop a strategic communications framework and support upcoming capital raising events.
• Gardening Responsibly, a science-based initiative has engaged Sefiani to deliver a sustainability-focussed behaviour change campaign to encourage Australians to select plants for their garden that have a low risk of impacting the country’s biodiversity.
• As communications partner for MA Hotel Management, the hospitality group which owns and operates 25 hotels across Australia’s east coast, Sefiani will create omnichannel communication strategies.
• For Optima Technology, the agency will implement an integrated communications strategy and thought leadership program to build awareness of the company’s capability.
• Sefiani will also offer financial services communications to the new non-bank lender Central Real Capital who provides residential and commercial mortgages; and for Generation Life, to raise awareness among financial advisers and retirees for the new LifeIncome investment and annuity product.

Creative agency Eleven has expanded its remit and added four new clients to its roster: The Travel Corporation, IHG Hotels & Resorts, plant-based brand Greens & Goodness and investment app Syfe.