Move and win roundup: Week of July 6, 2020

Inshorts Medialabs appointed Archetype as its PR consultancy of record following a multi-agency pitch. The agency will be responsible for providing strategic communications counsel to bolster the reputation of the company's apps, Inshorts and Public, in the Indian market.

Delhi-based PR firm Integrated Centre for Consultancy Pvt Ltd (ICCPL), won the account of DLF Mall of India, a premium shopping mall at Noida (UP) that is the largest retail mall in the country. ICCPL will be responsible for managing all the media related queries and public relations activities for the mall.

Production company Sweetshop has signed on comedy director Jim Hosking as a global representative. Hosking got his start directing promos for MTV before turning his attention to singular films and commercials for the likes of Cadbury, V Energy, Tic Tac, Tooheys and Xbox. Most recently, he turned his attention to TV where he created Tropical Cop Tales for Adult Swim. Laura Geagea, managing director & executive producer at Sweetshop China, Asia + MENA said that Hosking will be an important addition to the company’s roster as the Chinese market becomes more interested in comedy.

Sports digital network Mailman Group will expand its footprint into the US with a new virtual office in Los Angeles. The group’s US service will be led by Gideon Clark, who returns to his homeland after six years in Shanghai with Mailman. North American clients with the group include the NHL, UFC, NFL, NBA, Panini America, DRL, US Open, and the LA Lakers. 

Singapore-based data intelligence company Near hires Harish Ganesh as regional head of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Ganesh will oversee the management of new and existing relationships with publishers, channel partners, brands, content providers, agencies, and advertisers. Prior to this, he was head of sales for Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines at InMobi where he spent nearly four years driving adoption of mobile as a strategic part of the media mix. He then was part of the APAC launch team at DoubleVerify where he led adoption of third-party verification across brands in India and SEA. Harish was also actively involved with IAB SEA and India and as part of the Brand Safety Working Group where he worked towards driving best practices on fraud, viewability, and brand safety across brands and agencies.

Gurgaon-based digital agency DigiDarts has nabbed the marketing mandate for self-ride two-wheeler rental service provider Vogo India. The agency will be involved with the planning, execution, campaigns, digital and performance marketing strategy for the brand. Padmanabhan Balakrishnan, co-founder and COO of VOGO, said the brand was impressed with DigiDarts’ experience in helping young brands scale as well as its expertise in designing sustainable digital campaigns.

Finn Partners has launched a new global travel recovery network to offer strategic counsel and marketing services for travel industry clients with their COVID-19 recovery. The new network specialists are led by Debbie Flynn, managing partner, Global Travel Practice Lead; Virginia M. Sheridan, managing partner, North America Travel; and Cathy Feliciano-Chon, founder and managing director, Asia Travel. For more info, read the full story here. 

Singapore-based PR agency Redhill has won the account for the launch of the Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok, a luxury boutique hotel under InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). The agency will plan and execute a launch strategy for the hotel in eight markets across Asia including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Hong Kong and South Korea. The opening will mark Kimpton’s debut in Southeast Asia.

Current Diageo India CMO Julie Bramham will move to Amsterdam to serve as global brand director for Johnnie Walker. During her tenure as CMO in India, Bramham led the transformation of Diageo India's biggest brand McDowell's No. 1 with a recently launched brand refresh. She also brought to life some key innovations for Diageo including the launch of the ‘Hipster’ packaging format. Bramham was also featured in our APAC Power List 2020. Longtime PepsiCo marketer Deepika Warrier will take on the CMO role in India. 

WhiteGrey has extended its position as social and digital agency of record for GSK Consumer Healthcare. The extension of the partnership will continue to see WhiteGrey working across digital and social for Panadol, as well as a new remit extending across multiple GSK Consumer brands beyond Panadol, including strategy, IA, CX, UX, comms, digital and social. As part of the appointment, WhiteGrey has also been tasked with transforming Panadol’s ecosystem to drive brand awareness, engagement and sales. Work begins immediately on development of social strategy, social content and social activity, work on the Panadol website, digital content ideas and production, martech review and evolution, among other new digital initiatives. The agency has been working with GSK for over two decades. 

Richard Curtis has acquired the Australia operations of FutureBrand from its parent company IPG. Curtis said the move will enable FutureBrand to double-down on its commitment to the Australian market and invest locally while still maintaining its global network. Curtis was named Australia CEO for FutureBrand in 2014, and was eventually promoted to APAC CEO.

South Korean tech start-up Dable has partnered with Malaysia-based Chinese-language media publisher Nanyang Siang Pau. Dable will provide 'Dable News', a content recommendation solution that provides content through widgets and helps readers increase their time spent on the website. The solution will also enhance recommendation results by applying the algorithms that fit media visitor's characteristics. 

Accenture-owned creative agency The Monkeys has named Thomas Marcusson as creative director. A Cannes, Clio’s and the Effie Awards recipient, Marcusson has had past creative experience at Saatchi & Saatchi, Sapient Nitro, and Ogilvy & Mather among others. He is also a tech-based artist whose work has been displayed in New York, London and Paris. His next installation, DJ Moss, is set to show at RMIT Gallery in Melbourne.

Wavemaker India has been chosen to manage the integrated media mandate for Indian pharmaceutical MNC Sun Pharma. Shekhar Banerjee, chief client officer and head – West, Wavemaker India, said that the agency’s expertise in analytics will be able to aid in identifying more growth levers for Sun Pharma brands. 

Alex Tan has been appointed to the new position of managing director of growth and transformation, at IPG Mediabrands China, reporting to COO Jacky Tang. Tan was formerly managing director of UM China and previously was a managing partners at IPG Mediabrands, OMD and MediaCom. Dominic Ng has now been appointed to Tan's former role as managing director of UM China, reporting to Chris Chen, CEO of IPG Mediabrands China. Ng was previously head of growth at Initiative China and prior to that was CEO of Vizeum China. 

Archetype reported recent new-business appointments in Australia and New Zealand from HTC, Tile and Upright Technologies. Tile, a community-powered finding platform, has tasked Archetype manage its public relations, influencer relations and events, while also acting as a hub for its expansion into Asia with Japan. HTC has chosen Archetype Australia to bolster its VIVE virtual reality products and its 5G solutions through public relations, influencer relations, branding and strategic partnerships. Upright Technologies, which makes a posture-training device, appointed the agency to drive its public relations, influencer relations, digital and social programmes.

WarnerMedia appointed Priya Dogra as president of WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks for EMEA and APAC. She will continue her responsibilities as executive vice president of strategy and corporate development for WarnerMedia for the time being. With her added responsibilities, Dogra will report to Gerhard Zeiler, chief revenue officer for WarnerMedia and president of WarnerMedia International Networks. She replaces Giorgio Stock, who stepped down at the end of June. The role includes executive oversight and responsibility for programming, advertising, distribution and operations of the WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks, which includes the basic Turner and premium HBO networks in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Dogra will share responsibility for the kids business in EMEA and APAC with Tom Ascheim, who was recently named president for the global kids, young adults and classics divisions at Warner Bros.

Getty Images signed with W Series, a racing series for women, as the official photographic partner of the newly launched W Series Esports League. Getty Images will capture all the in-game photography from the 10 rounds of the series, which began last month at Monza virtual track and will wrap up at the Silverstone digital arena in August. The deal is part of Getty Images’ wider esports strategy; it recently partnered with Polyphony to serve as the exclusive photo agency of Gran Turismo’s FIA world championships as well.  

Activation Group Holdings signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with HTC regarding the application of virtual reality in the event industry in China. HTC will be a long-term strategic partner of Activation on VR experiential marketing in the China market, and Activation will act as a long-term strategic partner of HTC as event agency in China market to promote HTC's Vive Events solutions. The MOU is valid until December 31, 2022.