The agency has also appointed Sunil Jaryal as head of insights and research.
Crombie joins UM as interactive director and will be based in Beijing. He has led Carat Australia’s interactive expansion since August 2006 and was previously with Tribal DDB as media strategy director in Sydney and before that with Tribal DDB in Los Angeles.
Jaryal is joining Universal McCann from Hansa Research Group where he has been head of the company’s North India operations. He has been with Hansa since 2003 and joined the company’s management ranks in 2004. He was previously with the Media Research Users Council in Mumbai and before that with AC Nielsen/Org-Marg in Mumbai. With Universal McCann he will be based in Shanghai.
Universal McCann CEO Manpreet Singh said the additions of Jaryal and Crombie expended the agency’s skills sets in key areas of the agency’s operations. Both will lead UM China teams, as well as perform as part of UM’s regional and global teams on digital and research-focused initiatives.