Move and win roundup: Week of June 28, 2021

DDG Brand Consultancy has announced that Kris Tsao will replace Mark Stocker as managing director, effective immediately. Stocker, the founder of DDG has decided to step down after 25 years and will continue to support Tsao and the team, with management and business development advice. Tsao served as creative director since 2013. 

Content marketing and brand publishing agency, Green Park Content [GPC], has appointed Sir William Goodenough as chairman of its Board of Directors. He was one of the founders of Design Bridge, a Design Agency, established in 1986, a business sold to WPP in 2019. Sir Goodenough will now work closely with CEO, Sven Lung, and the rest of the senior leadership team, to maximise his expertise in building management structures, skillsets and systems.

Ensemble Worldwide, the creative agency within the IPG Mediabrands network, has been appointed creative agency of record for Pizza Hut Malaysia. The appointment is for a period of one-year with the option to extend for another year. 

Thrive PR + Communications has been reappointed by Asus as its Australian and New Zealand (AUNZ) public relations company of record. The win renews the partnership that has been in place since 2017, following a competitive pitch. Thrive will continue to manage all of the tech giant’s product launches and announcements in AUNZ, to reach Asus communities across key market segments including lifestyle, gaming, smartphone users and commercial. Thrive will also work with ASUS on their brand strategy to help drive ambitious growth objectives in the local market.

Lion & Lion has partnered with L'Oréal to develop a launch campaign to introduce La Roche Posay, a skincare brand to the Indonesian market. As part of a campaign rollout, Lion & Lion will be developing and executing La Roche-Posay’s social media communication strategy as well as
building a local website for its Indonesian consumers.

Wavemaker's APAC chief client officer Allison Coley is moving to the role of managing director of global media for the Colgate-Palmolive account and becomes part of Red Fuse, the integrated global WPP team dedicated to serving the client worldwide. Coley will relocate to New York and take up the position from 1st July 2021, responsible for leading global client engagement and accelerating media and digital transformation across the Colgate-Palmolive business. A longstanding member of Wavemaker’s leadership team, Coley has held senior international management roles in New York, London, Paris as well as in APAC as North Asia CEO. She previously worked on the Colgate-Palmolive account between 2008 and 2016. Rose Huskey, Wavemaker’s CEO, South East Asia will take over Allison’s responsibilities in APAC.

Programmatic firm MiQ appointed Damien Healy as digital operations officer for Asia Pacific. leading product strategy and development and responsible for scaling agency and advertiser relationships. Most recently, Healy was global officer of programmatic and addressable media at Dentsu International in London. He also spent five years at GroupM's Xaxis where he led operations, platforms, and product as EMEA COO, building out 24 successful markets through a period of rapid growth and expansion.

Merlee Jayme has switched roles at Dentsu International, becoming APAC chief creative officer after previously serving as global co-president of Dentsumcgarrybowen. See the full story. 

MullenLowe Singapore has appointed Roan Ebrahim as group business director, responsible for managing integrated client work and driving organic growth.  She will also work with client account teams to encourage creativity and efficacy of client campaigns including work for Republic of Singapore Navy, Citibank and Johnson & Johnson. Ebrahim has previously worked for Leo Burnett where she led the SKII global account, and Publicis Groupe Singapore where she helped build and lead the premium beauty and lifestyle hub. 

BBDO India has appointed Krishna Mani as chief creative officer of its Delhi office. He moves from Dentsu India where he was ECD South. See the full story.

Grey Group promoted Masanori (Masa) Tagaya to chief creative officer at Grey Tokyo. He joined Grey in 2002 as a TVC producer and copywriter and rose through the ranks to be named creative director in 2012 and executive creative director in 2019. His portfolio includes P&G, Febreze, Pantene, Lenor, and Pringles. His purpose-driven creative work has played an instrumental role in adding clients such as Coca-Cola, Amazon, Phillip Morris and Tiger to the Grey roster, according to the agency. 

Endeavor China appointed Sum Huang, most recently co-founder and partner of XG Entertainment, as CEO. Prior to XG, he spent five years with Hony Capital, where he initiated deals for ByteDance and SMG Pictures, and led Hony’s investment in the tech, media and telecom sector, across China and Hollywood. Endeavor China is a subsidiary of Endeavor, a global entertainment, sports and content company, and was formed in 2016 through an investment group that includes Sequoia Capital China, Tencent and affiliates of FountainVest Partners.

B2B agency Just Global appointed Felippe Diaz as managing director for Australia and New Zealand. He steps into the role previously held by James O’Flaherty, who is returning to Just Global’s UK office in the position of senior director, strategic solutions. Diaz joins from event and experience company George P. Johnson, where he was ANZ business director.

Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA) appointed Clemenger BBDO Sydney and The Brand Agency for marketing services in support of its wagering brand TABtouch. Clemenger BBDO Sydney will be responsible for brand strategy and creative, and The Brand Agency has been awarded the media component. RWWA’s wagering business consists of an exclusive network of 325 TAB retail outlets across Western Australia, a call centre and a digital platform through the TABtouch brand.

Deborah Elms, an expert in Asia trade policy and supply-chain issues, joined APCO Worldwide’s International Advisory Council (IAC). Based in Singapore, she was the executive director of the Asian Trade Centre, an advisory firm which works with governments and companies to design better trade policies for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. She is also a senior fellow in the in the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Trade Academy. Her current research involves the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) negotiations and global value chains. Previously, Elms also served as head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations (TFCTN) and senior fellow of international political economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Washington, a master's in international relations from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s from Boston University.

Reprise appointed Pippa Berlocher to the newly created role of APAC president. She will replace Ben Poole, currently managing director, who will leave Mediabrands towards the end of July for a new opportunity (to be announced). (Full story)

Montieth SPRG, a joint venture between Montieth & Company and Strategic Public Relations Group (SPRG) appointed Leslie Fung as director. He will lead the agency’s day-to-day activities and drive its continued expansion in APAC. Fung has over 20 years of PR expertise across a variety of disciplines including investor relations, corporate affairs and strategic communications. He was most recently general manager at Wonderful Sky Financial Group and held prior roles at Tianda Pharmaceuticals, HKR International and Lee Kum Kee.

Sitecore, a provider of digital-experience-management software, appointed Saurabh Pandit as area vice president of its Asian operations. His new role will include India, Southeast Asia, and the Greater China region and he will report to Sitecore’s Asia-Pacific and Japan president, Mark Troselj. Pandit brings more than 20 years of business and executive management experience including prior roles at Resulticks, Adobe, Oracle, Microsoft and IBM. He was formerly regional director for JAPAC at Resulticks, and head of IBM Watson customer engagement across the ASEAN region. He has also held senior digital marketing alliance roles at Adobe and MIcrosoft.