Move and win roundup: Week of November 29, 2021

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover November 29 through December 3, 2021.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

Intelligence agency ADNA hired Gracy Mathovani from DDB after six years as general manager.
Mathovani will be tasked with managing the Singapore office, including ADNA as well as the DANA Integrated Content Production Studio. She joins the management team of ADNA and starts on December 6. 

PubMatic promoted Peter Barry regional director of Australia and New Zealand as well as head of audience for APAC, to a global role as VP of addressability. Barry, who joined the company in 2016, will relocate from Sydney to New York, where he will lead multiple cross-functional teams and efforts with publishers to ensure they monetise their inventory and drive better outcomes.

Havas Worldwide India promoted Arindam Sengupta and Prashant Tekwani. Sengupta has been promoted to chief client officer of Havas Worldwide India and head of group integration. Prior to this he was managing partner for the West and South regions. Tekwani, who is currently EVP and business head of Havas CW, has been given the additional mandate of leading the Mumbai operations of Havas Worldwide India. The duo will report to Rana Barua, group CEO of Havas Group India.

The Hallway Group is launching a specialist performance marketing division focused on creative content optimised for direct response digital channels and this new unit, The Hallway Performanc e Digital (THPD), will be led by Chris Murphy who has been promoted to general manager. He has been with Hallway for two years in leadership positions. THPD, meanwhile, will manage the independent agency’s existing digital media clients as well as a soon to be announced payment platform and automotive brand. The unit has developed a proprietary model that determines clients’ growth programs based on their level of investment. THPD will offer performance creative development, social content production, paid media strategy and buying as well as reporting frameworks.

Publicis Groupe has promoted Adrian Yeap to executive creative director of Publicis Singapore; as Ng Tian It, executive creative director of HPB ONE, moves back to China to take on a leadership role within Publicis Groupe. Effective January 2022, Yeap takes on creative leadership for the agency that counts Disney, Visa, Nestlé and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) of Singapore as key clients. He returns to Publicis Singapore after a three-year stint at Leo Burnett as creative director.

Yellophant Digital, has won the mandate for CarBoli, an online portal for selling pre-owned cars. The agency will manage the brand's 360-degree digital presence, spanning from social media creatives & digital campaigns to media and innovations.

Luke Tucker, Ciibank's marketing head in Singapore, has been moved to the regional team and promoted as the APAC/EMEA head of marketing. Under his leadership his team oversaw several notable marketing campaigns such as 'There's more to wealth' and 'Lead the way'. In his place, Mylene Ong will be the head of digital sales and marketing for Citibank Singapore, effective December 1. She joins from Mastercard, where she was the director of communications for Southeast Asia.

Fresh off winning multiple accolades in the 2021 Warc Rankings, Colenso BBDO announced that Simon Vicars will step up from ECD to CCO, while Maria Devereux has been promoted to chief innovation officer in addition to her existing ECD title. Vicars is New Zealand's most-awarded creative ever, according to the agency. He has worked in New Zealand, Berlin and most recently London, where he was creative director at Adam & Eve DDB. Prior to that he spent six years at Colenso BBDO, where he created award-winning campaigns including DB Export's 'Brewtroleum' and Pedigree's 'Child Replacement Programme'. Devereux’s career has spanned Canada and New Zealand. At Colenso her Pedigree SelfieSTIX campaign won global awards and helped the agency become a global innovation hub for Mars. She has also relaunched the State Insurance brand and won multiple awards for her work on NZ Breast Cancer. 

Publicis Groupe Hong Kong promoted Christopher Lee for group creative director to executive creative director, Dennis Yeung from client service director to managing partner, and Miuson Chi from director of integrated communications to general manager of Publicis Groupe’s PR and social arm, MSL.

Ruder Finn Asia appointed Adeline Phun as general manager of Ruder Finn Malaysia. She has more than 19 years of strategic communications experience, and was previously general manager of Rantau Golin, where she advised clients in integrated communications, reputation management and media relations across healthcare, financial services, corporate, technology, mobility and FMCG. She will report to Ruder Finn’s Asia-Pacific CEO, Elan Shou.

Leo Burnett Australia appointed Catherine King as chief strategy officer. She has spent the last year as a freelance strategist, and was previously head thinker at Thinkerbell and founder of The Romantics. She will be charged with expanding the agency’s strategic capabilities to drive new and innovative partnerships. She will work with the current head of strategy market leads in Sydney and Melbourne.

PRecious Communications appointed Daniel Tan as associate director for PRecious Sparks, practice that supports and advises startups, appointed John Paul Palileo as creative director, and named Georg Ackermann as its new content lead, helming a newly formed content-marketing team. Tan, a former journalist, has led both in-market and regional integrated communications initiatives, and has previously served as the publicist for the UFC. Palileo has experience with clients including Unilever, WSG, Changi group, OCBC, Chevrolet, FedEx, Visa and WWF. Ackermann, most recently managing editor with KrASIA, has worked nearly two decades with leading media organisations in Europe and Asia, including Dow Jones.

The Ogilvy Network ANZ appointed Toby Talbot as chief creative officer. He joins from DDB-owned 14 in Barcelona, where he is currently CCO. Prior to locating to Spain last year, he was CCO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand for three years. He has also held roles as CCO of DDB Sydney and group ECD at DDB New Zealand. Talbot will be responsible for The Ogilvy Network’s creative offering across all four Ogilvy offices: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland, including Designworks in New Zealand. He will also oversee creative output across all business units: advertising, PR, experience, health, and growth and innovation. He starts his new role in mid January.

Kantar Insights Hong Kong appointed Marco Tang as senior business development director for the Greater Bay Area. He was previously with Nielsen for more than 15 years, most recently as a senior director. He will be based in Shenzhen, but will travel between Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. His role will focus on expanding Kantar Hong Kong’s footprint into the Greater Bay Area and helping Chinese local giants succeed in expanding to international markets.

BandLab Technologies announced an organisation change, introducing a new company brand, Caldecott Music Group (CMG). CMG will oversee the long-term planning, investment, and development of three newly-formed divisions: BandLab Technologies, Vista Musical Instruments, and NME Networks. Digital division BandLab Technologies will design and developing innovative tools and services for the next generation of music creators. Manufacturing and retail division Vista Musical Instruments groups musical instrument brands MONO, Harmony, Heritage Guitars, Teisco, and omni-channel, multi-brand retailer, Swee Lee. Media division NME Networks unites the group’s journalism titles, including Guitar.com, NME, MusicTech and Uncut.  

Blitz Advertising appointed Sundus Shahid as an associate director of strategy and planning, based in Karachi. She joins the Spark-affiliated sports marketing agency after a 10-year career in hospitality, telecommunications, events, logistics and advertising.

Publicis Media Pakistan made hires for the recently won Nestle account: Hoor Khwaja as a media buying manager, Ali Taha as the assistant manager for digital, and Haris Haroon as the assistant planning manager.

Starcom-affiliated Brainchild Communications Pakistan hired Abdul Aziz Arif as the head of corporate buying and Waleed Ahmed as a media planner.

Paul Murphy has been appointed as managing director, iProspect Melbourne, a new position for the office. Murphy, who was chief media officer at Cummins&Partners for the past four years, will join iProspect on January 10.

MMP World Wide, an adtech solutions provider, has appointed Aqilliz, a middleware technology firm, to authenticate audiences and establish data provenance within campaign environments. As part of the deal, Aqilliz will be the exclusive technology provider for MMP's marketplaces within the Middle East and North Africa and North America markets, effective January 1.

ITCC has acquired independent digital media and marketing agency Loud Days. The move will allow ITCC Group and Loud Days to provide integrated digital marketing, content, media,  and IT development services to clients.  The ITCC Group and Loud Days portfolio will now cover sectors including retail and lifestyle brands, health and aged care, and energy and infrastructure across businesses including ALS Global, ACCIONA, Amplifon Australia, Mayfield Lighting and Zenitas Healthcare. 

Phraser, the newest addition to Hong Kong’s marketing services industry, founded by former PR and journalism executive Faristha Kanakkapillai has launched. The agency works with businesses and primarily offers four kinds of services; copywriting and content writing, editing and proofreading, translation and transcreation, and content strategy. 

Berlin-based adtech firm Hybrid.ai has expanded to Indonesia and appointed Abirbhav Chanda is spearheading Hybrid.ai as a Country Manager, based in Jakarta. He was previously sales manager for Silverpush. 

FCB Malaysia has been appointed creative agency of record for Malaysia’s leading water brand Spritzer after a competitive pitch. The agency has already started work on several campaigns for 2022 as Spritzer’s new agency.