Move and win roundup: Week of June 14, 2021

PHD Hong Kong appointed Lawrence Lo as the new managing partner and Namrata Chakrabarty as data director for the HSBC APAC account. Lo was last at TransUnion, as director of consumer interactive. Chakrabarty joins from IBM Hong Kong, where she was responsible for building cloud-native customer data platforms for clients.  

Andreas Vogiatzakis is now joining the board of advisors of The Scale Factory. He will strengthen the company’s footprint in the Malaysian market, as well as widen capabilities through offering tailored executive coaching and training geared towards challenges unique to start-ups.

Freddie Luchterhand-Dare has joined Openspace Ventures as vice president of brand, with the remit to help portfolio companies achieve brand-led growth. He will work with the investment team as well as with the VP of human resources and VP of ESG and impact, to apply a brand lens to the discussions.

Kat Bauto has joined Healthy Thinking Group Asia as an account director. She joins HTG from McCann Health, where she was the lead on GlaxoSmithKline, Mundipharma, Johnson & Johnson Consumer and Vision Care, Align Technology and Mead Johnson. 

Saatchi & Saatchi Australia has appointed Georgia Jones to be the general manager of its Melbourne office. Jones joins from Clemenger BBDO Melbourne where she was head of business management working with clients including Belong, BMW and NAB. Jones replaces Mark Cochrane who was recently appointed CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand.

Actor Han Ji-hyun has been appointed as brand ambassador for South Korean biopharmaceutical company, Celltrion Skin Cure. She will endorse YY Biotics Double Care, a female probiotic product from Celltrion Skin Cure's health functional food brand, Inner Lab.

Advertising technology provider The Trade Desk has launched operations in India and appointed Tejinder Gill as the company’s India general manager. Gill, who was previously vice president, global sales (south Asia, MENA, sub Saharan Africa) will lead the company’s business and growth strategy in India, helping Indian brands and publishers gain from the open internet. The Trade Desk aims to help India’s digital marketers access a marketplace of advertising inventory across a range of websites, apps, podcasts and streaming OTT platforms. 

Ogilvy Malaysia has brought on board Alicia Yap as executive group director and Moheeta Tamrakar as director of experience and social, to strengthen its digital capabilities. Yap has been with the network for over 20 years, most recently spent 10 years in the Shanghai office. Tamrakar joins Ogilvy from AirAsia, where she was senior manager, strategy and analytics. 

First Page Digital, an agency founded by serial entrepreneur Nick Bell, has launched Australia. The company comprises experts in online paid advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO), content marketing, social media marketing and digital consultancy.   

Luminous Power Technologies, a home electrical company in India has appointed Wavemaker India as its integrated media partner for all its product categories. Wavemaker India will manage the brand’s traditional and digital media duties including media strategy & planning, media investment, media activation, and content. The account will be handled from their Gurugram office.

Carat Melbourne has won the General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) account for its Australia and New Zealand launch, following a competitive pitch. The agency will support GMSV with media strategy, planning, implementation and optimisation for the vehicle maker's ANZ business including all paid media across its product portfolio. 

MDC Partners, the company that owns agencies including 72andSunny, Anomaly and Media Kitchen, has expanded its global footprint in a partnership with This Is Flow. The Australian indie will become MDC’s affiliate media planning and buying agency across Australia and New Zealand and will help manage global clients and participate on global pitches, but will still remain 100% independent.

GroupM promoted Jerman Zhang from managing director to chief commerce officer for GroupM Commerce China. Based in Shanghai, he will become a member of the GroupM China Executive Committee, reporting to Patrick Xu, CEO of WPP Greater China and GroupM Greater China. The appointment takes effect July 1. In this new role, Zhang will be responsible for integrating existing commerce products and services to help GroupM and its agencies deploy future commerce business development strategies. He will also further deepen GroupM’s cooperation with mainstream ecosystems such as Alibaba and JD.com in terms of commerce methodology co-development, operation, and business innovations.

Interpublic Group agency Golin has expanded its China operations with the launch of an integrated marketing communications offering to be led by newly appointed Zita Wang. She joins Golin after having led the Shanghai digital practice as senior vice president at Weber Shandwick, and holding roles at BCW (formerly Cohn & Wolfe).

The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) has appointed Aaron Herps as the general manager of its Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), following the departure of Neil Gane, who leaves AVIA to take up a position with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. Herps joined AVIA in 2019 as the operations manager for CAP, working alongside Gane on all CAP initiatives from government outreach to criminal investigations and associated enforcement actions against syndicates and streaming website operators in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Indigo Slate has hired Jack Mickle as president of global agency services. An experienced international marketer, Mickle was most recently the CEO of Ogilvy Japan, where the agency supported local, regional and global efforts for the likes of IBM, Lexus and SC Johnson. During his tenure, the agency earned Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year honours. 

Creative studio, Kojo has acquired New Zealand based boutique sports presentation business, Wolfcast. The purchase provides Kojo Sport with a foundation for the company to expand its footprint and enter the New Zealand market. Based in Wellington, Wolfcast has delivered sporting events including All Blacks & Maori All Blacks International Fixtures, the HSBC Hamilton Sevens and Super Rugby Matches. Wolfcast founder Tara Hakiwai will join Kojo Sport as a senior producer. Prior to establishing the business in early 2019, Hakiwai held roles with the National Basketball League, Wellington Football Union and Hurricanes Rugby.

Programmatic advertising specialists Crimtan have hired Frank Cheng as Asia business director. Cheng brings to Crimtan over 14 years’ experience working with advertising agencies across the globe. He worked in Cairo, Los Angeles and New York before moving to Hong Kong in 2017, where he helped establish the APAC HQ for KAYAK.com. 

Matterkind, the activation intelligence company within Interpublic Group, has made three leadership appointments in APAC. Lani Jamieson, former head of Matterkind Singapore and Malaysia, has been appointed to the newly created regional leadership position of head of client solutions, APAC. Effective July 2021 Jamieson will manage a portfolio of key Matterkind client accounts. Micaela Soyza, formerly Matterkind Malaysia’s director of addressable strategy has been appointed as head of Matterkind Malaysia. Marrah Africa, former APAC lead, global learning solutions, has been appointed to the position director of addressable strategy in Singapore. 

Singapore leisure and attractions provider Mount Faber Leisure Group has appointed Upcycle Communications as the public relations agency of record to undertake its public relations representation in Singapore and key regional markets from April 2021. The bid was a competitive pitch for a 12-month retainer from 12 April 2021, with the option to renew for another year. The full-service scope includes strategy, media and KOL relations, partnerships, crisis communications, from planning through to execution, for brand and tactical media campaigns.

Hashtag interactive has been appointed as the social media agency for Move Happy SG, an organisation that focuses on active mobility. The agency won out over nine social media agencies in a pitching process that concluded in April this year. The partnership with Move Happy SG includes content and design development and community management, starting May 2021 on a one-year
renewable contract.