Move and win roundup: Week of February 10, 2020

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover February 10 through 14, 2020.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

Joaquim Laurel has been hired at Digitas as executive creative director for Singapore and Southeast Asia. Laurel will be tasked to lead the creative team while merging UX, social, content and digital campaigns. In his new tole, he will report to Rika Sharma, MD for Singapore and Southeast Asia, with a dotted line to Matt Cullen and Gary Tranter who are both chief creative officers for Digitas APAC. Laurel was previously head of creative at VMLY&R Singapore. He witnessed the merger of VML and Y&R and assumed leadership of both creative teams after the new entity was formed.

Geometry appointed Gaurav Arora as GM in Indonesia. He joins from Grey Indonesia and will be based in Jakarta, reporting to Kenni Loh, CEO of Geometry Malaysia. David Tay, the previous MD of Geometry Indonesia, has decided to step down to go back to his family in Singapore after a two-year stint.

SpiceJet appointed Leo Burnett India as its creative agency following a multi-agency pitch. The account will be handled by the Leo Burnett New Delhi team. The client said Leo Burnett's digital-first, data-led approach will help build a stronger brand narrative and engage with audiences across various mediums.

Malaysian insurance company Berjaya Sompo Insurance Berhad has shortlisted three agencies for its brand campaign in an integrated pitch involving creative, media (excluding out-of-home) and digital marketing duties after conducting its pitch presentations recently. Lion & Lion, Vertex Blue and FCB Kuala Lumpur are currently vying for the one-year appointment.  

BBDO Guerrero has won a bid to develop the multi-media marketing communications for the Philippine participation in the Expo 2020 Dubai this October. The agency is tasked to persuade global audiences to visit the Philippine Pavilion at the Expo which will showcase local design, art, food, and culture. 

Independent Sydney-based creative agency Common Ventures has been picked by men’s fashion retailer Tarocash following a pitch. The agency's first work has been to develop a campaign for the brand's Autumn/Winter range. Common Ventures' portfolio of clients include Tourism NT, Taylors Wine, The Australian Federal Police, Contiki and The Sydney Opera House.

Malaysian fintech startup Jirnexu, which runs comparison platform RinggitPlus, has named Jo Yau as the company’s new CMO. Yau has over 20 years of experience in advertising, media, and sales and was most recently GM at Grey Malaysia. She has also worked for Mindshare and Zenithmedia (now known as Invictus Blue). She will lead a team of 20 handling brand communications, digital performance and content marketing. She will report to co-founder and CEO Hann Liew.

MediaCom Australia has appointed Matthew Vogts to the newly created role of chief growth officer AUNZ. He will work alongside MediaCom’s CEO and senior leadership teams to develop the agency's partnerships in the region. Vogts is also currently the managing director for MediaCom New Zealand, and will step into his new role in April 2020 reporting to Willie Pang, MediaCom AUNZ CEO. 

Sara Pereira joins WE Communications as APAC technology lead. She joins WE with over two decades of experience in the region, including 12 years at Ogilvy as a regional lead where she built their technology and social practices across 10 markets. At WE, Pereira will be in charge of driving new business growth for the technology sector and increase cross-regional collaboration in partnership with local leadership. She will also provide senior counsel for the agency’s portfolio of tech clients. 

Weber Shandwick Singapore has been appointed as agency of record for The National Library Board (NLB). The agency will provide day-to-day PR consultancy and communications services support for the NLB, which oversees 26 public libraries nation-wide.

OMD Thailand appointed Issarisa Khamswas as head of strategy. She returns to OMD, where she worked in digital and strategy 2013 to 2018. She was most recently with aCommerce as head of marketing planning and strategy, and prior to that was a digital marketing manager at Nestlé. She will be working with Roxanne Somboonsiri, OMD Thailand MD, and Gavin Gibson, chief strategy officer for Asia-Pacific.

AmorePacific-owned body-care brand Happy Bath appointed BBDO Korea as lead agency for the Korean market. The agency will be responsible for all strategic planning for brand communication, the lead agency for hero products and the brand partner for growth, effective immediately. BBDO's data-driven approach and experience in purchasing and consumer behaviour were cited as determining factors.

Production and sourcing company Tag appointed Nalla Chan, formerly MD at Cheil Singapore as regional executive director. She spent the last 10 years growing Cheil Singapore from an adaptation agency to a full service integrated creative agency with 70 employees. 

DoubleVerify appointed Imran Masood as country manager for Australia and New Zealand. He was previously MD of programmatic services at GroupM, and has also served as MD of the Xaxis and Plista businesses within GroupM, and in senior roles at Sizmek and Amobee. Masood will be based in Sydney.

Xiaomi appointed Jakarta-based Maverick as strategic communications partner in Indonesia following a multi-agency pitch. The client cited creativity, strong networks in media and communities, and experience in crisis and issues management as important factors in the selection.

Experience agency Imagination Australia appointed Brooke Carden Wood as design director for 3D and Environment. She joins after recently returning to her native Sydney from London. She has worked on projects for Adidas, Ministry of Sound, Hoxton Hotel Group and Bloomingdales.

Big Mobile appointed Olia Mc Donald as sales director for Western Australia, based in Perth, and Jenevieve Novosel as sales director for Queensland, based in Brisbane. Mc Donald joins with 15 years of digital experience including with AOL and Millennial Media in Singapore, Southeast Asia and Sydney. Novosel has spent the majority of her career with News Corp, being promoted several times to group sales director and commercialisation roles. In addition, the company has recently hired Mann Chawla, formerly with Mediacorp, as sales director in Singapore and Zain Awan as country director in Indonesia.

Alt/Shift won an appointment as PR agency of record for Deliveroo Australia following a competitive pitch involving five agencies. The agency will work with the brand's internal communications team on creative campaigns and developing an ongoing strategic newsroom function which will involve media relations, content, influencer and experiential.

Warner Bros Pictures appointed PHD to manage its integrated media duties in Malaysia following a competitive review. PHD's remit will cover integrated media strategies, as well as planning and buying duties for the entertainment company. The review involved four agencies in Malaysia, and the client cited PHD’s strategic product, along with its proprietary platforms Omni and Omni Studio as key determinants. The appointment is immediate, and PHD has already begun work on the launch campaign for Birds of Prey and The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.

Vivo Mobile India awarded its communications mandate to Archetype, following a multi-agency pitch. The smartphone maker, which just became the No. 2 brand in India, will task Archetype with providing strategic direction to build on Vivo's reputation quotient, according to the companies.

SsangYong Australia appointed Thinkerbell as its consolidated agency partner following a competitive pitch. The agency will be responsible for the Korean automotive company’s brand strategy, creative, media, earned and digital. SsangYong opted for a single-agency structure to ensure a holistic approach across all facets of the business, according to the companies. The appointment begins immediately.

Wavemaker India appointed Mansi Datta as managing partner. She will head north operations for Wavemaker India, reporting to Ajay Gupte, CEO of Wavemaker for South Asia. Mansi has been with Wavemaker since joining then-Maxus in 2015, most recently as GM. She has 19 years of experience in advertising, media and marketing and across industries including FMCG, consumer durables, education, IT, spirits, carbonated beverages, telecom and e-commerce.

Appier appointed Dr. Lee Feng Chien, most recently the 14-year head of Google Taiwan, to its board of directors. A PhD and veteran of the technology industry, Chien is known for his expertise in AI; data search and processing; and natural language processing (NLP). He joins as an independent member following his recent retirement from Google. He also has served as a researcher and director at Academia Sinica Institute of Information Science and as a contract professor at National Taiwan University (NTU).

George P. Johnson Australia has appointed Carrie Arnold as director of integrated production and Kim Gerard as head of event production. Additionally, the agency announced three internal promotions: Jess Quiney becomes head of strategy; Jacquelyn Cowardin elevated to head of audience acquisition; and Corey Hoskin becomes people and culture manager.

Continuing a 12-year partnership, NTUC FairPrice Co-operative, Singapore's largest retailer, re-appointed Havas Media Singapore as its media agency, following a competitive pitch. Havas Media will continue to handle the brand’s media planning and buying for both FairPrice (now known as Retail Business) as well as for its other business units under the newly formed FairPrice Group. Havas will also support FairPrice Group’s digital and programmatic strategy. Agencies that participated in the pitch include Starcom, PHD, Mindshare and Wavemaker.

Live events agency Freeman has appointed Debbie Evans as managing director of Freeman, Asia-Pacific based in Singapore. Prior to this appointment, Evans served as President of Reed Exhibitions (RX) in South East Asia and Australia, a company she has worked at since 2000. At Freeman, Evans will be charged with growing the regional business and encouraging collaboration between Freeman's offices in Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has won the creative and strategic duties of Mirchi, the multi-media entertainment brand that also operates top Indian radio station brand, Radio Mirchi, following a multi-agency pitch.  Radio Mirchi along with its sub-brands that include Ishq and Mirchi Love, operates 76 stations across 63 cities along  with digital, on-ground and multimedia assets.

Kuala Lumpur-based consultancy-meets-agency Entropia Group has launched 'Entropia Empathy',  a specialist offering that consults clients on infusing purpose into brand and business behaviours, to promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The move follows Entropia’s recently released special report on sustainability entitled 'Business for Goodness'. The new offering will also pilot a new personal attitude and lifestyle metric around sustainability Quotient (SQ), to complement intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ), capturing people’s relationship with human society at large.