The Australia-based communications planning agency stuck a flag in Thai soil following its win of the PepsiCo foods Thai communications planning business last year.
Sowden, who spent three years at the agency as a communications planning director on the Pepsi business in Australia and New Zealand, joins as managing director of Bellamy Hayden Southeast Asia. Sowden will oversee the Pepsi account, which is currently run by Thanasdh Kasemchaiyanandh, hired from Initiative Bangkok, and Ceri Reed, who joined from Freud PR in London.
The new office will act as a hub from which the agency wants to focus on winning regional business. Phil Hayden, director of Bellamy Hayden, said: “First of all, we want to work with clients we have in Australia, like Pepsi. Then we’ll take it a step further and gun for business across the region. We wanted James to become a permanent member of the Thailand team because of his Pepsi experience. He’s been a star of the agency here, and we need him to galvanise the team in Bangkok.”
Bellamy Hayden launched in Sydney in November 2000. Its clients include GlaxoSmithKline, Sony and Electrolux. “We’re not for everybody, but we hope to be involved in some interesting work and be a champion of media-neutral thinking in Asia,” said Hayden. “Many people will say it’s not going to work, but we’re quite comfortable riding an early wave. We started in Australia ahead of our time, so we’re used to being an early mover.”
