Move and win roundup: Week of July 26, 2021

GroupM has named Aimee Buchanan, formerly CEO of OMD, as CEO for Australia and New Zealand. (Full story)

Publicis Groupe has created a new group-level CEO role in Taiwan and promoted Irene Chang, formerly CEO of Publicis Media Taiwan, to fill it. The company also appointed Kevin Yang, who joins from Ace Communications, as CEO and chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Taiwan, reporting to Chang. (Full story)

Artefact Asia has promoted Edouard de Mézerac from head of data and consulting for APAC, to managing partner of Artefact China and APAC. (Full story)

SAP Concur has promoted Matthew Goss to SVP and general manager for Asia-Pacific, Japan and Greater China. An 18-year SAP Concur veteran, Goss was most recently the managing director for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to that, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Concur shared services centre in the Philippines.

Luno, the first regulated digital asset exchange in Malaysia, has promoted Scarlett Chai to marketing manager from marketing and partnerships lead. Chai will lead the marketing efforts in Malaysia. 

Gillian Fish, founder and CEO of The 6AM Agency, has been appointed to the Vitafoods Content Advisory Board for 2021/22 and is also taking up a position on the Marketing & Ethics Sub-committee of Consumer Healthcare Products Australia (CHP Australia). As a member of the Content Advisory Board, Fish will work alongside global leaders in the USA, UK, Europe, Asia and Australasia.

UK-based Airtasker appointed Noelle Kim as chief marketing officer. She joins from Facebook, where she rose to head of marketing (APAC) for Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. She will oversee the expansion and management of Airtasker’s product and growth marketing teams, and will work to grow the Airtasker brand in the UK and US markets.

Lion & Lion is working with PZ Cussons to establish its footprint in the Indonesian ecommerce market. The partnership involves driving ecommerce campaigns using a creative combination of targeted brand marketing and media strategy.

Thailand wellness company Bertram (1958) has appointed social-media agency Kingdom Digital to build online presence for its medicated oil brand Siangpure in Malaysia. This is the brand’s inaugural partnership with an agency locally. Kingdom Digital will be responsible for creating and managing Siangpure Malaysia’s Facebook and Instagram. The agency’s duties also include developing bold strategies and planning and executing creative content for these platforms.

Brainchild Communications Pakistan (BCP) and Walee Technologies have announced a partnership to distribute the latter's martech platform.  

Uber appointed Ameya Velankar as head of marketing for India and South Asia. He has been the interim lead for the region since November 2020, and has played multiple roles at Uber in his 2.5 year stint, including leading the product marketing mandate for Rides. Before Uber, he led category marketing for SC Johnson and was group product head in Marico.

Following a competitive pitch, Subway appointed Mutant as its public relations agency to help strengthen its brand positioning and share-of-voice in Singapore. As part of the one-year partnership, Subway and Mutant will work together on a series of campaigns that drive business growth and connect with key stakeholders. The companies kicked off their partnership with the launch of Subway’s localised flavour pairing: the Rendang Sub and the Pandan Cookie. Additionally, Mutant is also supporting Subway’s first large-scale community impact initiative in Singapore, with the distribution of 10,000 Rendang subs to staff and volunteers at vaccination centres, testing centres and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). 

SeenThis, an adtech company that allows advertisers and publishers to deliver ads via streaming, has opened its first office in Australia and appointed Adam Roberts as ANZ sales director. Roberts joins with 15 years of experience from adtech, client marketing and agencies. His previous roles include heading up strategic business development for global creative production firm Tag Worldwide, consultancy business Adroc and senior commercial roles in mobile and performance marketing agencies.

Hong Kong's Cody Out of Home announced the addition of the Tate’s Cairn Tunnel to its portfolio of exclusive long-term tunnel advertising assets. The tunnel, which connects Sha Tin and Kowloon East, carries an average of 1.8 million vehicles per month, with 75% comprising of private vehicles, taxis and motorcycles.

Dentsu International and Insider announced a partnership that will marry Dentsu’s integrated capabilities in client support and execution with Insider’s AI-powered cross-channel marketing platform to deliver personalised customer experience journeys at scale. The partnership will help brands access a holistic understanding of their online audiences across different channels and platforms, the companies said, allowing marketers to anticipate audience behaviour and deliver personalised online experiences. The partnership offerings will be available in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

In India, Motivator, a full-service media agency of GroupM, won the media mandate for gaming platform RummyCulture. The agency will handle the brand’s traditional and digital media duties, including media strategy and planning, media investment, media activation and content. Motivator won the mandate following a multi-agency pitch. The account will be handled from its Gurugram office.

Mumbai-based Yellophant Digital, part of Merge Infinity Global, won the digital marketing mandate for MySmilist following a multi-agency pitch. The agency will handle creative and content, social-media management, digital campaign strategy, media planning and buying, ORM, SEO and SEM.

The former vice president of AutumnGrey, Sahil Trehan has launched Razorlabs, a marketing technology company, as CEO. Trehan co-founded Razorlabs with Shubhankar Nath, CEO and Founder of Razorpod, a full service digital marketing agency. Based in Delhi, RazorLabs will be focused on marketing and sales transformation via a range of smart solutions built to dovetail with existing processes, the company said. 

Wavemaker India has won the media mandate for Paragon Footwear, a footwear brand. The mandate comprises of traditional media and content including social creative and digital. The account will be handled out of Bengaluru office of Wavemaker. Wavemaker India won the account following a multi-agency pitch.

Independent marketing consultancy R3 hired Penelope Siraj as principal consultant to lead the company’s media practice across Asia Pacific. She was most recently with PHD Singapore as group business director. She joins the company's growing team of digital and media consultants in Singapore, which has doubled in size over the past 12 months. Siraj has 19 years of experience in media buying, planning, research, and digital. 

Alex Tan joined Dentsu China on a consultancy contract in the role of managing partner for media. He was previously with Mediabrands China for 3.5 years, most recently as managing director of growth and transformation, a position he took up a year ago. Prior to that he was managing director of UM China. He also has experience at OMD and MediaCom.

Malaysia telco Time DotCom appointed Rockstar Digital, a subsidiary of Kingdom Digital Group, as its social media agency of record following a competitive pitch. The appointment is for a period of one year with the option to extend for another. The client cited as reasons for its selection Rockstar's structured and strategic understanding of the telco landscape and its bold and fresh approach to social platforms, supported by robust data and in-depth insights.

Cummins&Partners Sydney appointed Rachel McEwen and Matty Graham as group business directors; Meredith Ansoul as head of media; Nicky Webster as senior account director; Robbie Tucker as senior account manager; Abby Johnson as account executive; and Georgie Parchert as copywriter. The agency also promoted Alice Tran to art director. McEwen returns from London where she worked on PepsiCo and ASDA at AMV BBDO. Graham was most recently part of the team at Vice. Ansoul joins for her newly created role from Vodafone where she was head of acquisition, media and content. Webster is ex BWM and Tucker is ex M&C Saatchi. Parchert was previously a strategist at UM.