Move and win roundup: Week of November 2, 2020

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover November 2 through 6, 2020.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

Finsbury announced that Ginny Wilmerding has joined the firm as partner in Hong Kong. Prior to Finsbury, she was with Brunswick Group for nearly 11 years, where she was a partner. She will focus on developing Hong Kong, mainland China and US-based clients, targeting regional and cross-border transactions, governance and activist situations, geopolitics and public affairs, reputation management, ESG and investor engagement.  She has spent 17 years working in Hong Kong and mainland China and speaks and reads Chinese.

Kimberly-Clark Australia appointed R/GA Australia to its Kleenex and Viva brands. R/GA will be tasked with positioning the brands for growth in Australia and leading the creative go-to-market strategy. Working with Mindshare and The Ship, Kimberly-Clark’s media and shopper agencies, respectively, the agency will help challenge go-to-market approaches and execute from shelf to screens, the agency said.

Portronics awarded its social-media mandate to Mumbai-based Chimp&z. The agency will offer integrated digital services including handling the brand’s social-media pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube, crafting digital campaigns, strategizing influencer marketing, and formulating content and creative solutions to drive organic traffic growth. Portronics offers more than 1,600 products, including portable speakers, power banks, portable projectors and scanners.

Dentsu International (Dentsu) has tapped Guillaume Legond, client director and commerce lead with its media group; Vivekanand Salunke, regional strategy director; and Anil Dabhi, project director with Isobar Commerce to lead its newly launched Dentsu Commerce offering in Singapore. The service aims to deliver integrated and frictionless end-to-end commerce solutions by bringing together commerce capabilities from across the network. Dentsu Commerce promises to harness capabilities from across Dentsu's creative, media, and CXM groups in Singapore to deliver on functions such as planning presence and availability according to audience and demand, optimising visibility, optimising product listings for purchase conversion, and auditing reviews and sentiments.

Special Group Australia appointed Lea Egan and Sian Binder as creatives. Egan was most recently creative director at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. She has worked on brands including Netflix, Converse, Cadbury, and UNICEF at agencies including Anomaly New York, Droga5, Publicis Mojo and DDB. Binder was most recently working as a freelancer and has held roles with Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, BMF, Droga 5, Wunderman, and M&C Saatchi, where she worked on brands including Cadbury, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Toyota and Aldi. Both women have been working with Special Group on a project basis and have been instrumental in helping the agency win new business including Bonds and Mutti, according to a release.

World Communication Forum Association (WCFA) elected Clāra Ly-Le, managing director of EloQ Communications in Vietnam as one of six new members of its newly expanded global executive board. The board's stated mission is to create a platform for active discussions and exchanges focused on developing communications and its vital role in business, society and politics. WCFA is led by Maxim Behar (Bulgaria), who takes on a fresh three-year mandate as president. The new board boasts three Vice-Presidents: Solly Moeng (South Africa), Ganesh Chandrasekaran (India), and Jon-Hans Coetzer (Portugal). Newly accepted board members in addition to Ly-Le are Nurul-Maria Ashiquin (Malaysia), Mina Nazari (Iran), Jacqueline Strayer (USA), Saurabh Uboweja (India) and Cesare Valli (Italy). Mumbai, India-based Yogesh Joshi will act as an external controller on key executive board matters.

Watchfinder & Co., which sells pre-owned luxury watches, appointed Gusto Luxe as its retained strategic communications partner in Hong Kong following a competitive pitch. The agency will work with the firm to develop the communications strategy across Asia, increase awareness for the brand in the city, drive earned-media opportunities, develop consumer-facing campaigns and handle influencer outreach. The brand was acquired by Richemont in May 2018. It offers over 4,000 watches from more than 70 brands through its online presence and network of boutiques and showrooms in the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the US.

Weber Shandwick appointed Elizabeth Bae as executive vice president for its South Korea business to strengthen its corporate expertise. She was previously market leader for BCW Korea, where she oversaw the agency’s business operations. Prior to that she worked with Edelman for eight years as senior director within the corporate and consumer practice. She will report to Tyler Kim, vice chair, Asia Pacific and managing director, North Asia. Her remit will be to lead the corporate practice for the market as well as work closely with multi-market clients for outward expansion.

CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) appointed two joint-heads of its international advertising sales business. Rob Bradley leads advertising sales across Asia Pacific (including Australia) and Latin America and will take responsibility for CNNIC's international digital and data development. Corinna Keller, vice president for advertising sales, Latin America, and Tini Sevak, vice president, audiences and data, both move to reporting into Bradley, who will be relocating to Asia in 2021 and will also continue with his global role. Cathy Ibal leads advertising sales for all of EMEA and takes responsibility for CNNIC's international client development. James Hunt, senior vice president, global client solutions, reports to Ibal and continues to oversee all client servicing functions within CNNIC, including its Create brand studio.

The Marketing Society Hong Kong made additions to its regional board. Natalie Truong, CMO Asia with Mercer, and Nicole McMillan, VP of FMCG Hong Kong and VP of group marketing with DKSH, will work alongside the existing team based in Hong Kong to drive the Society’s agenda. Truong recently relocated from Melbourne and has experience with ANZ Banking Group, Bank of Melbourne (Westpac), IOOF and CPA Australia. McMillan has 20 years of experience, including a 13-year stint at Mars across Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, where she was also part of the regional board of The Marketing Society. She is also a member of Campaign Asia-Pacific's 2020 Power List of the most influential marketers in APAC. 

Selling Simplified (SSG), which calls itself a data-driven B2B demand-generation company, appointed Jerome Soh, formerly of IDG, as commercial director in Singapore and Samar Kidwai, formerly of MarketOne and IDG, as VP of sales for EMEA. Soh has over 15 years of technical sales experience with companies like Questex Media Group, TechTarget and IDG Global Solutions. Kidwai has over 12 years of sales experience and experience with demand-generation technology, content marketing, programmatic advertising, ABM, SaaS business models and direct sales. 

Design and visual effects house Heckler added Reynald Gresset to its roster of commercial directors. Heckler will represent the LA-based live-action director, who hails from France, in Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. Gresset's highlights reel includes work for Vodafone, Lexus, Honda, Fiat, Toyota, Ikea, Nissan, Heineken, McDonald’s and Universal.

Redhill promoted Pranav Rastogi as managing director where he will oversee all global operations. He has served as interim managing director since June 2020 and was previously deputy managing director. He joined the company in 2017 as strategy manager after having led the comms strategy, marketing and advertising division of New Delhi-based BML Munjal University. During his time at Redhill, he has managed to aid in steering a diverse portfolio which includes Nokia, leading venture capital firm Vickers Venture Partners, entertainment company Bigo Technology, and government-linked entity Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).

Brand-experience agency Freeman appointed Sally Lu as managing director of Freeman China. She was previously with Uniplan for several years, ultimately serving as China MD. She will report to Debbie Evans, APAC MD, and oversee Freeman’s three China offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Lu is replacing Dionne Holder, who has been with Freeman China since 2016 and is moving to a client-service role within Freeman in North America.

Havas Group India announced the promotion of Mohit Joshi to chief executive officer of Havas Media Group. Joshi has been serving as group managing director since the departure of Anita Nayyar, who left her role as CEO of Havas Media Group for India and Southeast Asia in February and later joined Zee5. Joshi will continue to report to Rana Barua, CEO of Havas Group India. (Full story)

Haymarket Media (India) appointed Raahil Chopra as managing editor of Campaign India. Based in Mumbai, Chopra will report to Hormazd Sorabjee, managing director, Haymarket SAC. Chopra was deputy editor prior to this, a role he was given in 2016. He first joined Campaign India in 2009 as an intern and became a staff member in 2011. (Full story)

Japanese eyewear brand Owndays awarded PR and influencer-marketing agency Glad U Came its PR mandate in India. The Mumbai-based agency will be looking after the strategic and integrated communication program for the brand. The scope of work includes strategic planning along with media and influencer engagement to introduce and build the brand's first-ever store launch in Mumbai.