Move and win roundup: Week of October 31, 2022

George P. Johnson has appointed Chrissie Mills as managing director for Australia and New Zealand. Mills started her career at Iris Worldwide in London and then a decade later, she joined Yakusan Brand Experience in Sydney as client services director. Most recently, Chrissie led Gyro in A/NZ working across B2B and B2B2C strategy, creative, analytics & media.

Creative agency VCCP has exited Australia after more than a decade in the country. The agency pointed to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its business as the main reason for its departure.

Jajabor Brand Consultancy (JBC) has onboarded Vineet Recriwal as chief operating officer to assist founder and CEO Upasna Dash. The agency is planning expansion into two new markets (Singapore and the US) by the end of 2023 to work on communication mandates for companies looking for strategic counsel globally to foray into the Indian market.

Australian independent creative agency, DO, has expanded its Asia Pacific footprint with the launch of a new office in Tokyo, its first international office. As part of the expansion, DO has hired local industry leader Hiroaki Takezoe, who has joined as the Japan agency founder and managing director, and Toshihiro Yoshii who joined as founder and planning director.

Ogilvy has launched its sustainability practice in Australia to help brands and businesses that face increasing pressure to clearly communicate environmental social and governance (ESG) goals and progress. The new practice will provide strategic counsel, reputation management, investor relations, stakeholder engagement, behaviour change and crisis support on ESG challenges and opportunities for businesses and organisations across both Australia and New Zealand. 

Nutrition brand Athletic Greens has selected BBH China to be its creative agency. BBH China will be working with AG on its positioning, promoting its brand and product portfolio, and launching a series of brand and e-commerce creative campaigns to help AG upgrade its brand image and reach consumers who seek a healthier life.

Tony Fernandes, acting group chief executive of AirAsia X (AAX) and its outspoken brand ambassador has stepped down with immediate effect. According to news reports and company’s filing on the Malaysian stock exchange, Fernandes said he wants to focus on other commitments as his goal of restarting AAX and bringing it back to life from hibernation has been met. Mahmood Fawzy has been appointed as the independent non-executive director of Thai AirAsia X (TAAX) with immediate effect.

Zara Curtis director of content and customer engagement at Insurance Australia Group (IAG), is now the acting-CMO, taking over the role from Brent Smart who departed to become the CMO of Telstra. Curtis has been at IAG for close to five years, most recently serving as director of content and customer engagement since May 2019.

In newly created roles, M&C Saatchi Performance elevates Melissa Yik as country director Singapore and Roshat Adnani as managing partner APAC. These promotions come off the back of M&C Saatchi Performance’s significant growth with recent new business wins including Asana, ASICS, Julo, Noice and Jobstreet. In her new role, Yik will continue to steer accounts while guiding the agency’s Singapore office. Meanwhile Adnani is tasked with maintaining the agency’s relationship with existing and new partners and overseeing finance operations. Both will report directly to Kabeer Chaudhary, managing director APAC at M&C Saatchi Performance.

Colenso BBDO has hired Duncan Bone as group creative director. Having worked with leading agencies such as Wieden & Kennedy, BBH, and 72 and Sunny, Bone served brands and clients in the UK, Europe and most recently in Shanghai. In the current role, he will be based in Auckland, New Zealand and work in partnership with group creative director Hadleigh Sinclair.