Move and win roundup: Week of March 8, 2021

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover March 8 through 12, 2021.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

Sudarshan Saha joins Publicis Groupe Malaysia as managing director—media & digital. In this role, he will be responsible for driving the business growth of its marquee brands and capabilities including Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry, Performics, Digitas and PMX. He will also be in charge of integrating Publics Media capabilities across the client eco-system. In his new role, he will lead a newly configurated team of senior leaders and digital experts, namely Piyee Wong, Randolph Tan, May Har Siew, Karan Tyagi, Vinod Kumar, Shelly Ng and Ugandhar Pilla. He reports to Neil Hudspeth, CEO of Publicis Groupe Malaysia, with regional reporting to Ian Loon, CEO— media & digital for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Saha joins from Mindshare where he was managing director for Vietnam. Prior to that, he worked at MediaCom and Maxus Global. 

Monica Hynds has been appointed general manager for BBDO Singapore, a promotion from her client services director role. Current MD Nick Morrell plans to leave BBDO after close to five years. Hynds spent long stints at Ogilvy Singapore and JWT before serving as agency head at Spark44, where she managed the Jaguar and Land Rover businesses across APAC. In her new role, she will work alongside chief creative officer Guan Hin Tay.  

The Insights People, which provides market intelligence on kids, parents and family, is expanding into Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea. Across these four markets, it has a survey base of 7,000 children every week aged 3-18, and 3,264 parents every week. The launch follows on from the company's expansion into India, Australia and China from 2019. In addition, the intelligence company has struck a partnership with Singapore-headquartered kids advertising company TotallyAwesome. The collaboration will provide TotallyAwesome access into The Insights People's live research portals, while The Insights People will gain additional insight into TotallyAwesome's client audiences.

Telehealth GP service Doctors on Demand has appointed independent agencies The Core Agency and Love Media to its creative and media account, following a competitive pitch. The Core Agency engaged former client, Georgia Thomas, to develop the media strategy and independent agency, Love Media, for planning and buying. The collective team will work together to service the Brisbane-based client.

Trip.com has appointed global marketing and communications agency, Finn Partners Travel & Lifestyle Group, as its global agency of record. The account will be spearheaded by CatchOn, a Finn Partners Company, across its offices in China and Hong Kong, as well as Finn teams in London and New York. The Trip.com team is based in Shanghai.

BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) Asia-Pacific appointed Polka Yu as deputy to the APAC president and Joe Peng as chief digital officer with immediate effect. Both will continue to report to Matt Stafford, president of BCW Asia-Pacific. Yu’s expanded role will include oversight of BCW’s Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia markets, and she will work with Stafford to implement the next phase of BCW’s three-year growth strategy. Peng will "spearhead the optimization of the region’s core digital innovation backbone", including establishing new digital platforms around data analytics and artificial intelligence.

Dentsu Philippines appointed Quad de la Paz as head of digital and promoted Koji Akabane to head of the media service line. De la Paz has 17 years of industry experience and will drive the agency’s digital growth across both the media and creative service lines. His previous experience includes website development as well as project management with AsiaOnline, digital services directorship roles in Dentsu Indio and MRM Worldwide, digital media director at Starcom Mediavest, and, most recently, regional performance operations director at Adglow. Akabane has 14 years of marketing and communication experience. He joined dentsu in 2017 and has been driving the digital business for the network regionally. Prior to that he spent 10 years with WPP’s GroupM in Japan and Indonesia. In his new role, he will lead Dentsu X, look after key Japanese client accounts in Dentsu Philippines, and drive business growth and digital transformation of the media service line.

Kantar appointed Jon Foged to the new position of managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Insights Division. Jason Shoebridge, CEO of Kantar New Zealand, will leave the business in April, after more than a decade with Kantar and its predecessors. Foged has been with Kantar for 17 years and has been CEO of the Insights Division in Australia since 2018. He previously served as chief strategic and business development officer for APAC and CEO for Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia, as well as MD roles in Singapore and Malaysia.

Weber Shandwick has promoted Campbell Hanley and Juny Lee to managing director in Japan and Korea respectively. They both will report continue to report to Tyler Kim, vice chair, Asia Pacific and managing director, North Asia, Weber Shandwick. Hanley and Lee most recently served as general managers for, respectively, Weber Shandwick Japan and Weber Shandwick Korea. In their new roles, both will oversee the strategic direction, P&L and overall growth of the agency in their respective markets. A key part of their roles will be to mentor and support the growth of employees, and to continue to care for their physical and mental wellbeing.

TBWA Malaysia promoted managing director Yee Hui Tsin to CEO with immediate effect. Asia president Sean Donovan credited her with driving transformation over the last two years, resulting in positive growth for the agency. He also cited additions to the client roster: U Mobile’s prepaid business, Lazada, PepsiCo, Abbott Nutrition, Baskin Robbins and Sarawak Tourism for the China market. Yee is co-chair of the Malaysian Effie Awards, a council member of the Malaysia 4A’s and leads the Omniwomen Malaysia Chapter with fellow Omnicom colleagues.

Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) appointed independent strategic and creative agency Xodbox and Dentsu-owned digital marketing agency Happy Marketer to handle its AY 2021 admission campaign. As part of this eight-month appointment, Xodbox will lead SIT’s out-of-home and print campaigns while Happy Marketer will handle its social and digital paid media push. Happy Marketer said it people-centric segmentation and targeting strategies will help SIT match potential applicants’ interests and aptitude with relevant degrees.

Bray Leino Splash (formerly Splash Interactive Group) has made several senior hires in its Singapore office. Jaffry Jalal, joins the firm as UX director. He was most recently a lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic and will lead lead the UX and UI capability at Bray Leino. The company has also hired E Kien Wai as technical project director. He was last at technology company Deltatre. In addition, Stephanie Holzhuber, former digitial marketing director at  Cheil Worldwide, joins the agency as senior account director. Finally, Jamie Phua, who has worked at various Singapore agencies including Y&R, TBWA and Digitas along with a stint in China at BDO and Leo Burnett, joins Bray Leino as account director.  

Independent creative company Special Group Australia has welcomed creative duo Matt Bladin and Phoebe Sloane to the fold. They join the company following a two-and-a-half-year stint at CHE Proximity Melbourne, where they worked on brands including Mazda, Flybuys, AGL, Telstra, RACV and Latitude Financial.

Lindsay Bennett has been promoted to global head of marketing for DDB Worldwide. She will relocate to New York to take up her role. She is being replaced by Mumbrella’s deputy managing editor – news and analysis, Brittney Rigby, who is to join DDB Group Australia as head of communications and new business.

Femtech startup Fig Health appointed Nadya Davies as CMO. Fig Health is an early-stage, VC-backed healthcare startup that is on a mission to empower all women to understand and manage their health. She was previously APAC marketing and communication manager at CWT, which followed a few years with AKA Asia. Reporting to CEO and co-founder Maria Wang-Faulkner, Davies will lead on the marketing strategy for customer acquisition, retention, engagement and branding, with responsibility for the full marketing spectrum. The company claims to offer a patient-centric approach and to use a science-backed methodology to help women understand their bodies by putting the data in their hands. It offers at-home lab testing, digital health coaching and supplements. 

Burger King China appointed Mediabrands agency UM China to manage its media planning and buying business following a pitch. (Full story) 

Sandpiper Communications promoted Sarada Chellam to general manager and Elizabeth Chu to deputy general manager of its Singapore office following a year of strong growth.  Chellam joined the agency as a director in 2018 from Ketchum Singapore, where she was senior vice president. She specialises in corporate, brand, and crisis communications and provides strategic counsel for clients working across a range of industries including healthcare, technology, travel, and consumer brands. 

Verizon Media promoted Simon Wheeler to senior director of content. He will lead editorial strategy in English-language regions including Australia, India and Southeast Asia, with editorial teams in India and across Southeast Asia report to him under a new structure. For the past four years he has led the editorial strategy in Australia.

Weber Shandwick has made two key promotions in Japan and Korea. It has promoted Campbell Hanley and Juny Lee to managing director, in Japan and Korea respectively. They both will report continue to report to Tyler Kim, vice chair, Asia Pacific and managing director, North Asia, Weber Shandwick. Hanley and Lee most recently served as general managers for, respectively, Weber Shandwick Japan and Weber Shandwick Korea. In their new roles, both will oversee the strategic direction, P&L and overall growth of the agency in their respective markets. A key part of their roles will be to mentor and support the growth of employees, and to continue to care for their physical and mental wellbeing.