D’Arcy arrives from Proximity’s Malaysia office (Media, 26 January), where he worked on clients such as Maxis Hotlink. His brief is to grow the agency’s interactive offering, while Tan will concentrate on client strategy. The duo will report to Rod Strother, Proximity Singapore’s managing director.
“When I joined Proximity, there was some negative press because of the retrenchments that followed. But they were for financial and business reasons. We knew we wanted to make new hires in two specific areas — interactive and client strategy,” said Strother.
“Rob will focus on grabbing bigger clients and more opportunities from across the region. If we can win some creative awards along the way, great. Jennifer (Chan, group chief executive of BBDO and Proximity Malaysia) didn’t want to hold him back.
“He was leading the agency and heading its interactive side there, but here he will have access to regional clients and businesses.”
Meanwhile, Tan’s brief is to “take the client strategy offer from Proximity to a higher level and get the PR machine well-oiled”, added Strother. She will work closely with D’Arcy on digital strategy.
Tan was most recently with Robbins Brandt Richter in New Zealand, where she was a strategic planner.
Previously, she had worked on brands such as Visa International and British American Tobacco.
