Campaign Asia

McCann Singapore names Gonzalo Olivera CEO as Paul Soon exits

Olivera takes the helm five months after the McCann and MullenLowe Singapore merger following Omnicom's takeover of IPG.

Inside Yiwu, the world’s unofficial World Cup commerce factory

Little-known Yiwu in eastern China is a clear indicator of football-driven consumer demand, it produces an estimated 70% of World Cup merchandise globally.

Creative Minds: The psychology graduate who decided to write

The Kingdom Digital creative plans to write a horror game script, dine with Eva Green and Lady Gaga, and someday earn the affection of a cat.

'Advertising agencies are not banks': Malaysia's 4As calls out 120-day payments

The industry body warns that extended settlement windows squeeze agency cash flow, delay salaries and erode talent base.

Thierry Henry can't stop watching himself in new Samsung spot

With the World Cup six weeks out, Samsung and BBH Singapore deploy Thierry Henry and a television.

Group CMO of Lazada exits after four year stint

Marcus Chew handled 11 Southeast Asia and South Asia markets at Lazada and Daraz.

Campaign’s Over 50 list returns to spotlight APAC’s most seasoned changemakers

Our second annual Over 50 list celebrates the industry’s accomplished leaders aged 50+, whose lasting impact, team-building instinct and entrepreneurial drive continue to shape media and marcomms across APAC.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Richard Petignaud, Bravo Media

Building Hong Kong's second-largest OOH operator from scratch during a pandemic, Petignaud applies cultural fluency to grow business impressively.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Pratima Harite, Lenovo

Without any privileged head start, Harite has risen to lead Lenovo's corporate citizenship across 13 Asia Pacific markets, impacting millions of lives along the way.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Srikanth Ramachandran, Moving Walls

From IBM's first e-commerce transaction to building a global media technology company across five continents, Ramachandran continually bridges the gap between physical media and digital accountability.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Shaun Tay, The Shout Group

From resurrecting a failing business to building Malaysia's most admired locally owned agency, Tay has become a lightning rod for the local agency scene.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Ron Jabal, Pageone Group

Jabal has spent decades repositioning reputation management from a tactical function into a leadership discipline grounded in governance and measurable trust.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: David Soo, PHD

From cook to digital pioneer to Media Agency of the Year wins, David Soo's career is a testament to hustle, heart, and the belief that a brand's power lies with the team.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Kunal Sinha, Ampersand Advisory

Whether promoting health education in Myanmar, probing Chinese supply chains or authoring influential books on strategy, Sinha has spent decades busting boundaries across markets and disciplines.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Lydia Lee, KKR

With nearly three decades elevating financial marketing from support function to strategic growth engine, Lee is the leader younger colleagues say they want to grow up to be like.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Suhaila Hobba, Publicis Groupe

Relocating from LA to Singapore to lead one of the largest agency transformations in the industry, Hobba has built an 18-market operating model from the ground up for one of the world's biggest media accounts.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Nitin Mantri, Avian We

From a household steeped in media and public discourse to building one of India's leading integrated PR firms, Mantri has invested decades in proving the critical importance of strategic communication.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Nick Seckold, Microsoft Advertising

From professionalising search marketing in London to building Microsoft Advertising's operations in Japan and China from scratch, Seckold has consistently delivered more scope and impact for advertisers.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Rajesh Mahtani, Publicis Groupe

Behind Publicis APAC's industry-leading new business performance in recent years is Rajesh Mahtani, the strategist who turned pitch craft into an institutional discipline.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Lulu Raghavan, Landor

From a one-person office to 250 employees and the first Indian woman to lead Landor APAC, Raghavan's story proves that creativity will always find a way forward.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Harry Dee David Jusana, Burson

Harry Deje's career is defined less by the title, more by what he's built—an agency that grew eightfold in five years and an industry infrastructure that raises the bar for Indonesian PR.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Joanna Lu, Bain & Company

From building billion-dollar brands at Coca-Cola to a pioneering promotion at Bain, Joanna Lu's post-50 chapter proves that deep operational experience is a strategic superpower in the digital age.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Jean-Michel Wu, Tripitakka

With over 3,000 hours of coaching and more than 250 leaders developed, Jean-Michel Wu has evolved into a leadership authority shaping how talent is identified and grown across APAC.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Bettina von Schlippe, Media Publishares

From launching Vogue Russia to building Vogue Singapore as a digital-first innovation platform, Bettina von Schlippe has spent her career redefining luxury communications through massive change.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: April Yap, Intersections Communications

Using analytics to tell new narratives, Yap’s strategic mind and ability to tap new technologies has fueled entrepreneurial success as an independent agency leader.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Jane Sweeney, Anthem

Four decades of building, leading, and reshaping communications businesses, including co-founding Anthem at 54 and helping launch Global Women, have made Sweeney a force in New Zealand.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Ela Federigan-Chua, Optimax Communications

From media assistant to building Optimax from a 10-person startup into a 53-strong agency, Federigan-Chua has spent nearly three decades evolving with the Philippine media landscape.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Gary Hong, TenSquare

From building the world's largest luxury car vending machine to transforming urban spaces into community innovation hubs, Gary Hong has redefined what media infrastructure can do for society.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Geoff Clarke, Mediabrands Australia

With millions in automation savings and 100,000 hours reclaimed for agencies, Geoff Clarke has set a new benchmark for what operational transformation looks like in media.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Emma Fung, Branded

From launching CNBC Asia to steering Branded through a pandemic pivot and major acquisition, Emma Fung has spent two decades shaping the intersection of brand, culture, and commerce across APAC.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Gogulan Dorairajoo, Rantau+

From traditional PR to engineering Toyota's first football sponsorship in Malaysia, Dorairajoo has spent three decades repositioning communications as a force for governance, sustainability, and cultural influence.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Gabor Koska, Edelman

A Hungarian-born researcher who built his career across three continents, Koska transformed Edelman's APAC data and intelligence practice from a small support function into a multi-million-dollar strategic advisory business.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Elaine Chan, Pan Pacific Singapore

By turning sustainability from a compliance narrative into a brand driver, Elaine Chan has redefined what hospitality marketing can achieve — earning a UN Environment Programme award along the way.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Thayalan Bartlett, MullenLowe Group

Through pandemic, sovereign debt crisis, and political transition, Bartlett has kept MullenLowe Sri Lanka growing while building institutions that endure.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Vicky Jones, 54

Becoming Championship director at the European Tour and 54 Asia's driver of top line revenue, Jones hits the green with resilience and purpose.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Xavier Prabhu, PR Hub

An idea-driven entrepreneur, Prabhu defies limitations by giving independent firms a stronger voice in a communications industry dominated by holding companies.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Youli Hooi, Publicis Groupe

What makes Hooi’s impact a legacy is that it endures even when she is not in the room. Her systems remain in use and her mentorships still bloom new emerging talents.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Yusdina Fibriyanti, Innocean

Through clarifying roles, strengthening client confidence, and refining market positioning, Fibriyanti demonstrates that great results can come from the best teams, anywhere in the world.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Amanda Palenski, PHD Media

Proving that creativity can be a superpower, Palenski adds a cultural amplifier to data and distribution at media agencies.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Adam Najberg, Pingshu Comms

After parlaying senior editorial experience into leading global content roles at Chinese tech giants, Najberg’s experience and force of personality serve his latest entrepreneurial endeavours well.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Ben Goodale, Quantum Jump

A guru in the art of customer loyalty, Goodale’s serial successes include founding multiple independent agencies and growing them through client satisfaction to greater heights.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Ben Cooper, RGA

Cooper’s innovations connect creative thinking, technological possibility and practical application, exploring not merely what technology can do, but how to make it useful, consequential and human.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Barry O’Brien, Atomic 212°

With a legacy well beyond the world of media and marketing to improving society at large, this medal of the Order of Australia recipient continues to guide new generations of professionals.

Campaign’s Over Fifty List 2026: Yoshikatsu Yamamura, Material

With age-defying drive, Yamamura’s imprint cuts across generations, spurring entrepreneurs to meet the business challenges of new media ventures.

Foreign companies lose trust edge as APAC turns inward, Edelman finds

67% across APAC say they're unwilling or hesitant to trust people different from them in values, societal views or background.

Devil in the deals: The brand play behind The Devil Wears Prada 2 in APAC

The film's staying power across fashion and workplace culture makes it an unusually rich platform for brand partnerships.

Campaign reveals winners of Event Marketing Awards 2026

George P. Johnson swept two Grand Prix and walked away with multiple wins at Campaign Asia-Pacific's tenth Event Marketing Awards. See who else took home the metals.

AI turns CMOs into chief growth officers: Forrester

Forrester says AI usage is pushing CMOs closer to commercial targets, with growth and revenue now squarely in their remit.

PepsiCo's Lay's opens a potato-themed restaurant in Shanghai

This is the first-of-its-kind Lay’s restaurant in Asia.

Bottle It Back turns AI’s vast water use into clean water support

A new initiative from TBWA\SMP Manila and Planet Water Foundation is turning AI prompts into water donations, spotlighting the environmental cost of chatbot use.

2026 Women Leading Change Awards shortlist is out

Meet the inspiring women and companies driving progress and redefining leadership across the region.

Creative Minds: The ECD with 11 cats, two dogs and no shortage of ideas

A funny Ericsson ad sparked Nutchanun Chiaphanumas’ path into advertising. Today, the We Are Social Thailand creative looks to people, stories and plenty of animals for ideas.

Sprite goes hyperlocal with new 'It's That Fresh' platform

The regional push spans 15 markets including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

Clean Creatives urges Netflix to sign 'fossil-free' agency for media mandate

Omnicom, WPP, and Dentsu are in the running for Netflix's $190 million EMEA media business.

Campaign and Marketing Week to co-host sessions as Campaign House returns to Cannes Lions

Campaign and Marketing Week will co-host sessions at Cannes Lions 2026 as part of parent company Haymarket’s week of activities at the global advertising festival.

Cannes Lions unveils 2026 festival programme, including debate hosted by Campaign

Live debate will cover whether creative taste can be objective.

Move and win roundup: Week of April 20, 2026

MediaMonks, WPP AUNZ, TBWA Hong Kong, Snap, Canva, and more in this week's collection of people shuffles and business wins.

Sunsilk Vietnam refreshes brand with ‘Silktopia’ campaign

The work, created by indie agency The Friday, stars Vietnamese singer Phùng Khánh Linh.

MullenLowe, Agency Performance Review 2026

The MullenLowe name was retired following Omnicom's $13.5 billion acquisition of IPG — but its Singapore operation survived the restructure.

Dentsu Media, Agency Performance Review 2026

After a $2.18 billion net loss and the collapse of its international sale, Dentsu has shelved global expansion to focus on a hard-edged internal restructuring led from Japan.

WPP Media, Agency Performance Review 2026

Ten months in, WPP Media's APAC operation tells a sobering story of near-flat billings, talent cuts, and a dangerous China dependency.

Dentsu Creative, Agency Performance Review 2026

Within a network grappling with structural instability and an international model under strain, creative sparks can still be seen across different markets in Asia Pacific.

Publicis Media, Agency Performance Review 2026

Publicis Media capped a standout 2025 by poaching Mars and Microsoft from rivals and consolidating Kenvue globally, cementing a lead built as much on systems as people and scale.

TBWA, Agency Performance Review 2026

Sean Donovan and team step into a complex mandate of absorbing BBDO and McCann into a TBWA-led structure while keeping the creative engine running. Whilst the creative reputation is strong, the integration test is just beginning.

Havas Creative, Agency Performance Review 2026

Havas Creative steadied in 2025, recovering from a mid-year dip to close with profit growth in ANZ and a stronger creative showing in India.

BBDO, Agency Performance Review 2026

Creative momentum, leadership flux, and the weight of a merger still settling. BBDO's 2025 was never going to be straightforward.

OMD, Agency Performance Review 2026

Despite maintaining steady growth in 2025 via marquee wins, OMD faces a pivotal road ahead as it attempts to turn recent structural shifts into a foundation for permanent client stability.

Cheil Worldwide, Agency Performance Review 2026

Steady as she goes—Cheil grew at a similar clip to the year prior, but is working harder to do so as its volume of smaller clients grows.

Ogilvy, Agency Performance Review 2026

Ogilvy ended 2025 as the region's most decorated creative network, with a bigger footprint but more uncertainty than it has faced in years.

Havas Media, Agency Performance Review 2026

In its first year as an independent company after the Vivendi spinoff, Havas Media landed Emirates, rebuilt its AI infrastructure and returned to second-half growth.

Accenture Song, Agency Performance Review 2026

From solar-smart agriculture in Japan to frontrunner status in agentic AI, Accenture Song's work proves the agency has outgrown traditional marketing boundaries while delivering double-digit growth in key markets.

PHD, Agency Performance Review 2026

Amid the Omnicom-IPG deal, PHD posted growth, kept the new business machinery active and held its footing. Retaining talent, clients and a distinct identity within a larger organisational structure is now the central challenge.

VML, Agency Performance Review 2026

Despite organisational change and market pressures, VML held its own, proving its mettle through tech-driven and purposeful creative work.

Assembly, Agency Performance Review 2026

The ADK acquisition gave Assembly the scale, creative depth, and full-service credentials to back its broader ambitions across seven new markets.

UM, Agency Performance Review 2026

While the agency celebrated major regional wins such as Target Corp, Kewpie and GWM, the commercial reality was a 4.7% revenue drop amid widespread budget contraction.

Publicis Creative, Agency Performance Review 2026

Publicis Creative turned AI into a creative multiplier in 2025, crowning Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific Creative Network of the Year while racking up new billings and scoring viral hits like McDonald’s GamiFries.

Initiative, Agency Performance Review 2026

Initiative experienced stronger growth momentum and greater innovation following major client acquisitions, but struggled with leadership instability and restructuring challenges.

Hakuhodo, Agency Performance Review 2026

The Japanese major spent 2025 doing the unfashionable thing: it held on to its people and clients, tightened structure and let the work do the talking.

FCB, Agency Performance Review 2026

Following the Omnicom-IPG merger, the FCB creative agency brand was retired, but in India and New Zealand, it won creative accolades and client growth and will live on within the networks of McCann and BBDO.

McCann, Agency Performance Review 2026

With leadership exits and a merger, McCann held the line on clients, won metal and grew its account base.

It’s Sevens weekend and HSBC dresses Hong Kong for the part

HSBC and 160over90 know better than to play it straight with Hong Kong's wildest weekend. Good call.

Disney's 1,000 role cuts underway, marketing and brand functions impacted

The redundancies to centralise marketing under Asad Ayaz were confirmed via an internal staff memo. CEO Josh D’Amaro said, “this is hard”, but necessary to streamline operations.

KFC and Pizza Hut appoint WPP Media for media mandate in Singapore

The business is won after a competitive pitch.

Digital Media Awards 2026 winners revealed

WPP Media dominated Campaign’s Digital Media Awards 2026 with major wins, while Taiwan-based work stood out in AI, content, and entertainment-led campaigns.

OMD China expands Yili remit with $100 million digital win

The media mandate sits with Mindshare.

Instagram's first campaign in Thailand is all about keeping it Reel

The work has been created by BBH Singapore.

Move and win roundup: Week of April 13, 2026

Havas Play, Edelman, KFC, TikTok, Chilon, W Communications, Tonic Communications, Lacoste, 72andSunny, Enigma, Bench Media, Apple and more in our weekly collection of people moves and account news.

Chinese pitches up in 2025 as brands eye efficiencies with contracting media budgets

Publicis Media led China's media agency market in 2025 for the second consecutive year, with Omnicom and Dentsu also gaining as WPP Media records a net loss in Ebiquity China's latest analysis.

Netflix launches new children's app to bolster gaming vertical

The Philippines was among Netflix's first test markets for the app.

Hyundai drives effort to name global sea forests

In partnership with BBDO, the campaign aims to bring ocean vegetation ecosystems onto maps and into discussions necessary for protection.

Move and win roundup: Week of April 6, 2026

Stagwell, Eastwest PR, Meta, Uniform, URA, PUB, IPG DXTRA, Foodpanda, CHAGEE, AKQA, DoorDash, Ward Marketing Group, Budget Direct, Leverate Group, Burda Media, Omnicom Advertising India, Havas Group ANZ, Bastion, and more in our weekly collection of people moves and account news.

Singapore's space agency lifts off with a launch film that tracks history

Staff Reporters