Move and win roundup: Week of May 9, 2022

Entropia, now part of Accenture Song, has been appointed by MBSB Bank as its first-ever media agency of record. The agency will oversee its paid media-buying strategy, planning and execution, as well as performance measurement. MBSB Bank was established in 2018 as a subsidiary of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), following MBSB's acquisition of Asian Finance Bank.

Digital Refresh Networks has won the digital mandate for Sunstone and the account will be looked after by the agency’s Mumbai team. The mandate includes overall planning and creative requirements across digital as well priming up the client’s ecommerce presence. 

Hivestack has launched a research division that will focus on exploring in-store, programmatic media activation in the metaverse. Computer vision scientist P.Anandan has joined the firm as a special advisor on this new division. Anandan was formerly managing director of Microsoft Research, scientist and Emeritus Researcher at Microsoft, and now consultant for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The new division will prototype how adtech can be used to programmatically activate ad opportunities in virtual retail stores in the metaverse. In this environment, the consumer is technically inside their homes shopping via VR headsets, but their avatar is out-of-home, says Andreas Soupliotis, founder & CEO of Hivestack.

Wavemaker Malaysia has recast its ledership, following the departure of managing director Michael Tan. Sheley Lim, previously head of digital for Wavemaker Malaysia, is promoted to general manager. Lim has 18 years of experience, 14 of which have been with GroupM. Wavemaker also announced the arrival of Usman Bin Tahir from Wavemaker Pakistan as senior business director, Ryan Foo as business director, Aw Wai Choong as regional planning director and Chua Shu Jien as business director. They join Brandon Chang, Ravi Singh, Eldon D’Cruz and Cindy Chia as the executive leadership of Wavemaker Malaysia.

Havas Media Group has appointed ecommerce practitioner Brendon Peters as ecommerce director of Havas Market, the group’s newly launched full-service ecommerce offering. Peters will help develop Havas Market’s commerce product suite, including commerce consultancy, customer experience, ecommerce and online marketplace strategy, fulfilment strategies, operations, CRM, and analytics. Peters' previous roles include ecommerce manager at Noni B Group, head of ecommerce at House of Quirky, and senior consultant at Practicology ANZ and Pattern International.

GroupM’s influencer marketing solution, Inca, has appointed Loan Menuge to lead its expansion in Vietnam. Reporting to Tomasz Kuisz, chief product officer, Menuge has over eight years of experience and was formerly with Hakuhodo. 

Communications consultancy Rice has won a retainer from enterprise automation software company UiPath, as well as voice artificial intelligence (AI) start-up AI Rudder. Appointed to strengthen UiPath’s position in the enterprise automation industry, Rice will provide counsel to the company on its regional brand communications, drive media campaigns and relations, and thought leadership content development.

IdeateLabs, an independent marketing company in India, has won the digital marketing mandate for White Oak Capital Management, an investment management and advisory company. The account was won after a multi-agency pitch. IdeateLabs' Mumbai office will primarily manage the account. The agency will be responsible for managing the creative communication duties, social media strategy and management, content creation, media promotions and SEO. 

Arnaud Frade joins Nielsen Asia Pacific team as SVP and head of Commercial Growth.  He was formerly chief commercial officer for Ipsos in APAC. 

Alexander Oakden has been promoted to Tech Partnerships lead at Google. He was previously GMP Tech and GA360 Market Lead. 

Milestone Systems has appointed Malou Toft as vice president for Asia Pacific. She was previously Milestone’s vice president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa.  

Daniel Marjan has been promoted from intern to junior creative director at Electriclime°. In 2021, Marjan joined the firm as part of the company’s internship programme. He Daniel continues to wortk behind the camera and in the editing suite on future projects.