Move and win roundup: Week of July 23, 2018

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover July 23 through 27, 2018.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

Independent Singapore agency Mutant Communications won the PR brief for Lazada Singapore. Following a competitive pitch, Mutant will derive a refreshed digital communications strategy for Lazada, and help grow several commercial categories for the e-commerce player. 

Havas Ortega set up a build and innovation team, which will be headed by creative technologist Jason Drilon. The veteran of a previous stint at Havas Ortega from 2011 to 2015, Drilon spent the last two years at Lego Group in Denmark, where he was lead content strategist for the City, Minifigures, Boost and House products. He has also worked at BBDO Guerrero, JimenezBasic Advertising, Ogilvy and Mather, and Bates 141.

Lewis made a number of appointments in connection with its recently announced 2020 plan:

• Keso Kendall, current head of Lewis Hong Kong, will expand her leadership role to encompass the emerging Greater Bay Area and oversee the setting up of two new offices.
• Yumi Liu will take on a new Beijing office leadership role.
• Current Hong Kong team member Victoria Guo will relocate to Shanghai to lead the office effective August 1.
• Current head of Malaysia, Ann Chong, will take on a new role as head of Southeast Asia, taking over Singapore leadership from...
• Fairil Yeo, who moves into a regional role as head of transformation.

HP announced a collaboration with Singapore Press Holdings to design customised and personalised print issues so advertisers can better target audiences through SPH's print products. The range of curated printed content includes personalised greetings and messages, targeted advertisements, unique QR codes and wraparounds. 

Discovery appointed Anna Pak Burdin as general manager, Southeast Asia, following the integration of the Discovery and Scripps legacy businesses. She will be based in Singapore, reporting to JB Perrette, president and CEO of Discovery Networks International. She was most recently with National Media Group, the largest media company in Russia and a partner of Discovery’s, where she managed its pay TV distribution portfolio.     

MullenLowe designed and rolled out Millennium Hotels & Resorts' first mobile app, allowing consumers to single or multiple hotel rooms, and engage with the hotel brand's loyalty platform to access rewards. The project was developed by MullenLowe's Chengdu, Sydney and Singapore offices. 

Mother Shanghai (a JV between The Secret Little Agency and Mother) has been hired by Mezcal95, an independent mezcal alcohol label from Mexico looking to expand into Asia. Its main remit is business transformation, branding and digital transformation. Alex Mier, brand ambassador for Mezcal95, said Mother Shanghai was a "digitally-native, agile, creative partner who could grow the brand with the same level of detail and love that goes into crafting mezcals”.

The Labs, an experience design consultancy, appointed Lee Liversedge as principal consultant, Sally Orme as a design-led strategist and Yige Ma as a senior experience design consultant. Liversedge was previously head of brand at Imagination. Orme has 20+ years of experience across industries and disciplines, while Ma has eight-plus years of experience in management consulting, program management, digital transformation, startup and innovation across sectors including financial services, tech, FMCG, media, health and education in the APAC market. 

JD will implement a rotating CEO system with current CMO Xu Lei to be the first CEO in the rotation. He still reports to the group CEO Richard Liu. Xu served as JD's marketing consultant since May 2007 and officially joined the company in January 2009.

FleishmanHillard promoted Judy Wei to general manager of its Beijing office, and added Graham Fordyce as executive creative director for the Greater China region. Wei was previously the firm’s China head of the consumer team. Fordyce joins FleishmanHillard from HainesAttract, where he was national ECD.

IPG agencies McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe and Jack Morton joined forces to launch the first-ever graduate apprenticeship program in Singapore. Called “Accelerate”. the program will be a six-month paid internship for graduates. The first cohort was recruited from Singapore Management University (SMU) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in June”

BBDO appointed Atin Wahal as EVP in Mumbai. He was most recently senior VP at Publicis India and has over 16 years of experience on both the agency and client sides.

At the end of June, Focus Media expanded the remit of the group's chief strategy officer, Cindy Chen, to be the chief information officer as well. She is to lead and implement the digital transformation of the company. Chen joined Focus Media's top management team in August 2005.

Former Ogilvy Fashion & Lifestyle China CEO Michael Tam is now the chief brand officer of Ubtech, an AI and humanoid robotic company. He will be responsible for the strategic positioning, brand management and operations of the company.

Chinese online luxury retailer Secoo Holdings appointed Federica Marchionni as its international chief executive officer and chief strategy officer of Secoo Group, reporting directly to Richard Li, chairman and CEO. Most recently, Marchionni was the CEO and board director of a NASDAQ-listed online retailer, Lands' End. 

Totem Media, a Greater-China-focused social media and CRM agency, and Marquis Insight, a data integration and visualisation agency, are joining forces to deliver data-driven strategy and creative services for brands. Headed up by Chris Baker, managing director of Totem Media, and Henry Wood, chief strategy officer at Marquis Insight, the new offering will be focused on bespoke data measurement, visualisation, and application of data into social media strategies and campaigns.

Y&R made a trio of senior appointments reporting to Asia president Chris Foster:

• Andrea Conyard, most recently CEO of Havas Singapore, joins as Southeast Asia CEO and chief growth officer, a new role for the network, starting in September. He will be responsible for growth and operations across Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
• Damien Tew joins as managing director for the Greater Bay Area (GBA), China. He was most recently managing director at Digitas.
• Beverly Ho, formerly general manager for Hong Kong, has been promoted to head of regional accounts and business development, effective immediately.

Starcom appointed Adeel Ahmed as general manager in Myanmar. He was previously media director for Havas Riverorchid.

Treasury Wine Estates appointed Melanie Alforque as global brand manager for Linderman's in Australia. She recently graduated from the Mini MBA with Mark Ritson.

The Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA) appointed Addiction Advertising to overhaul its employer branding, following a pitch. The main aim of the new branding is to boost the authority's outreach efforts at career and scholarship fairs, with the overarching goal of attracting young talent.