Move and win roundup: Week of November 23, 2020

Blue Tribe Foods, a food startup in the plant-based-meat market, has selected Chimp&z for its integrated marketing mandate. The account will be handled by the agency’s headquarters in Mumbai, India. The agency will conceptualise a 360-degree digital marketing strategy for the brand, ranging from social media, creatives, performance, ORM, SEO, public relations, and web development along with an eCommerce platform creation. 

Hakuhodo and its group xompany Seedata have collaborated with business strategy consulting firm Roland Berger to pursue innovation through creation of new businesses in Japan and Asean. In addition to creating businesses for clients, this collaboration will create businesses that contribute to solving social issues. 

Independent communications advisory firm Baldwin Boyle Group has opened its sixth office in the Asia-Pacific region in Jakarta, Indonesia. Established more than 35 years ago, Baldwin Boyle Group is an independent firm with offices in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, China and now Indonesia. Until now, the Indonesia business was managed remotely from Singapore and using local partners, but growing business needs necessitated a presence in Jakarta, the company stated. 

Global alcohol beverage leader Moët Hennessy Diageo Malaysia has appointed Kingdom Digital as the digital agency to handle its Diageo portfolio, specifically Johnnie Walker and Singleton. The agency was appointed in September, following a pitch in April. Kingdom Digital will be responsible in assisting both Johnnie Walker and Singleton brands in their content planning and creation, creative development, along with social media management and performance analysis. Due to the company’s calendar year, the appointment is for a period of four months, with the possibility for extension.

Pauline Chu, CEO of Dentsu Hong Kong, has announced her retirement, according to the company, and will leave the business at the end of November. In her nearly 35-year career, Chu worked at Ogilvy, BBDO and McCann before joining Carat in 2006. In 2008 she went to Guangzhou to serve as MD for Colgate China media at MEC, before returning to Carat as Hong Kong MD in 2010. She was promoted to Dentsu Hong Kong CEO in 2015. The company said that given "the planned simplification of the business", the Hong Kong Leadership team will continue to lead their lines of business and will take on broader responsibilities. Cheuk Chiang, CEO for Dentsu's Greater North region, will also play a greater role overseeing the market, with a focus on ensuring stability and continued growth, Dentsu said. Chu said she has had a long and successful career and now feels the time is right to step away and take time to consider what’s next. APAC CEO Ashish Bhasin praised her as a respected leader who leaves behind a great legacy in the Hong Kong market.

Pickupp, an on-demand tech delivery platform, has signed marketing and communications agency Archetype to consult on its regional communications strategy. Marking Pickupp’s first-ever agency appointment since its founding, Archetype has been engaged to assist the logistics company in its regional scope of work across Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Gabriela Hearst, the luxury ready-to-wear and accessories label, has appointed Gusto Luxe as retained integrated communications partner. The agency is tasked with mapping out strategy for the
brand’s communications in China including digital, social, marketing, and partnerships.

Boutique Australian agency Alpha Digital has bagged four new clients: Supercheap Auto, Krispy Kreme, Lounge Lovers, and surfwear brand Vissla. Alpha Digital’s recent success since July follows a leadership team restructure, the appointment of Sam Wood to CEO and 11 new hires. 

GroupM, the media investment management group of WPP, has launched its influencer marketing solution INCA in Hong Kong as part of ongoing expansion in the Asia Pacific region. By using this platform, brands in Hong Kong can partner with influencers and publishers to plan, execute, and measure content-driven campaigns. INCA’s solutions have supported numerous marketing campaigns in the APAC region in the past year from entities such as Campbell, Colgate, Fonterra, Pfizer, Mars, Shell, Triumph and UNHCR.

Sydney WorldPride has appointed Adam Zammit to the newly created role of director, Partnership & Revenue.  Zammit joins Sydney WorldPride effective immediately. WorldPride - an international festival celebrating LGBTIQ+ culture and joy - will be held for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere, when the festival comes to Sydney in 2023. Zammit’s key responsibilities include to identify and grow commercial partnerships with companies and brands from across the globe. His immediate focus will be to take the Sydney WorldPride’s multi-year Partnership Prospectus to market in December 2020.   

Luxury lifestyle company the Tatler Asia Group has appointed Nicholas Chan as its new managing director for Tatler Hong Kong. Chan brings with him 14 years of commercial experience, among which 10-plus years have been in the media industry, most recently with  Time Out Group. In his new role, Chan will be driving the financial and commercial success of the group’s Hong Kong office, as well developing the business. engaging clients and leading the organisation to achieve operational efficiency and sustainable business growth. Chan will also work with regional teams to adapt regional strategic marketing, product, digital and people initiatives.

Conversational AI agency Versa has expanded into India, capitalising on demand for specialised conversational strategy and design in the market. Versa India will be a 50/50 joint venture between Versa (Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia) and Mogae Consultants, owned by Sandeep and Tanya Goyal. Sandeep Goyal has been a past president of Rediffusion, ex-Group CEO of Zee Telefilms and former Founder Chairman of Dentsu India. Tanya Goyal has been a six-term member of the Governing Council of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). Tanya Goyal will be Versa India’s chairperson, Ashish Dabral, an ad industry veteran, will be the CEO of the Indian venture, while Versa Asia business director Adi Sharma will head up business development out of Delhi. Sunando Bannerji, formerly of WPP’s Group M and Star TV, will head revenue out of Mumbai. The venture will utilise VERSA resources from Australia, the US and Singapore to complement its own Indian-based resources, sales team and P&L capabilities.

The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia appointed Danny Koik as executive director of partnerships and business development of Disney+, with effect from 23 November. In this new role based in Singapore, Koik will drive all aspects of partnerships and business development for Disney+ in Southeast Asia, with a focus on making Disney+ available across multiple platforms and devices. He will report to Amit Malhotra, regional lead for emerging markets at The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific. Koik joins from Grab where he was the regional director of partnerships, overseeing tech, media and telco, FMCG and mobility services. He was also the country head of business development in Myanmar. Prior to that, he was at International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, where he served as technology, media and telecommunications divisional director. He has also held roles in the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and in Mediacorp.

BBDO Singapore appointed Monica Hynds as client services director. She was previously agency head at Spark44, where she managed Jaguar and Land Rover across Asia Pacific. She joins BBDO Singapore with a brief to strengthen the client management offer, integrated capabilities and local credentials.

Tammy Hembrow, an influencer who owns the Tammy Fit brand, announced that she is partnering with global integrated digital development studio Miroma Project Factory to enhance her digital footprint, following a competitive pitch. Hembrow, who has over 12 million fans, chose the agency for its track record in developing commercial, health and wellbeing applications, as well as its access to the creative and marketing agencies within the Miroma Group. Miroma Project Factory has been charged with services including software development, UX/UI enhancement, ecommerce optimisation, paid media and strategic consultation.

Equity crowdfunding platform VentureCrowd appointed Akcelo, which bills itself as a brand experience and innovation company, to lead its marketing transformation plans. Akcelo will drive customer strategy, acquisition and nurturing programs as part of the program, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud integration. VentureCrowd is a digital investment platform which gives investors access to curated investment opportunities; investors receive equity or ownership in the company raising capital. Founded in 2013 it has 42,000 investors, and has raised more than $126 million in funding across 63 deals.

The Institute for Adult Learning (IAL), an autonomous institute of the Singapore University of Social Sciences, appointed Metia Group to raise awareness of its education programs and increase audience participation through social-media strategy and marketing. Selected for its extensive experience in education marketing, Metia will provide end-to-end social media management for IAL, with responsibilities including strategy development, content creation, media buying, measurement and reporting and community management. The Metia team will also manage event coverage and generate community engagement through live video.