Move and win roundup: Week of May 29, 2023

Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week progresses.  This edition will cover May 29 through June 2, 2023.  Catch up on past people moves and business wins.

PRecious Communications, an integrated communications agency, has established local operations in Vietnam. PRecious has appointed Pham Thanh Hien and Vu Dinh Khanh as senior comms leaders in this market. Hien brings more than 10 years of experience in the PR industry. Prior to PRecious, she led an agency team supporting Meta to successfully implement strategic communications campaigns. Khanh held various roles in communications and marketing over the past 15 years in industries including television, technology, consumer, and real estate. In Vietnam, the agency represents businesses in established as well as emerging sectors such as software, fintech, healthtech, carsharing, travel, and hospitality, including firms like global cleantech solutions provider BayWa r.e., insurtech Igloo, supply chain planner RELEX Solutions, as well as enterprise software manufacturer Luxoft, and has also worked with Nasdaq-listed marketing platform Society Pass.

Performance marketing agency NP Digital, founded marketing expert Neil Patel, has appointed Ash Dharan as senior director of performance in Australia. Dharan will be responsible for accelerating the business by helping brands with integrated marketing strategies and identifying new areas of growth. Originally from New Zealand, she has accumulated 13 years of experience working in marketing across various countries, including France, UK, the Maldives, and ANZ spanning industries from wine, FMCG, consumer durables, and travel.

SPH Media is pleased to announce the appointment of Quah Ley Hoon (柯丽芬) to the board of SPH Media Holdings with effect from 1 June 2023. Ley Hoon has wide experience in the private and public sectors and is currently the group chief corporate officer of CapitaLand Investment. From 2013 to 2018, Ley Hoon was with Mediacorp as chief editor of CNA, covering current affairs. Ley Hoon also has more than 15 years of work experience in the public sector, working in various ministries.

Heath Campanaro, director at experience design company, Imagination Australia, will be stepping back after almost 20 years with the business. Campanaro leaves to launch a charity start-up, his dream for the last decade. He will continue to work with Imagination as a consultant on clients and project work from July onwards.

Wavemaker Hong Kong has appointed Milton Liao, currently VP of Wavemaker Guangzhou, to take on the additional role as head of Wavemaker Hong Kong to oversee the office’s business. Liao will directly report to Jose Campon, Wavemaker China CEO, as well as Alice Chow, CEO of GroupM Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Wavemaker Hong Kong's two managing partners, Scotty Ho (previously head of strategy), and Kenix Lai (formerly group business director), will directly report to Liao. Ho and Lai will jointly lead the culture and integration of the agency with specific responsibilities around strategy, growth and new business development with focus on international clients, and investment and operations on local clients, respectively.

Agency Mercury Integrated has expanded into Malaysia. Helming the team there will be managing director Tjin Lee, managing director Albert Pang, creative director Colin Sim and general manager Yong Huishan, supported by a newly formed team of industry professionals. Founded in 2001, Mercury Integrated has grown from a PR and Events company to an integrated agency offering marketing consultancy, event management, public relations, digital and social marketing, and influencer engagement.

Virtue APAC has appointed Chloe Fair as client services director in Singapore. Most recently VP of regional branding at Lazada, Fair also spent three years at Singapore’s Income Insurance where she was head of brand marketing. Prior to client side, Fair worked at BBH and Wunderman Singapore, across a range of global brands including Ikea, Xbox and Microsoft.

Mumbai-based brand and communications consultancy Tilt Brand Solutions has promoted Adarsh Atal to chief creative officer from his earlier position of executive creative director, effective immediately. Atal, who has been with Tilt Brand Solutions since 2019 will continue to report to Shriram Iyer, group chief creative officer of parent-company Quotient Ventures. 

Australian advertising agency The Hallway has been appointed by Collective Wellness Group as creative and media agency of record for the Anytime Fitness health club franchise, with close to 550 clubs and over 600,000 members. The appointment is effective immediately.

Wunderman Thompson Australia has added five new creatives, including Iain MacMillan, who jumped on board as creative director in Melbourne, strengthening the shop’s creative leadership  alongside Stephanie Gwee, also promoted to creative director after joining the agency in September last year. New additions in the Sydney team include Maddy McGuinness who is the new art director and will be paired with copywriter Jared Kinsler, and in Perth junior copywriter Brendan Morrow and graphics designer Jade Koch come on board.

Independent creative and design agency Special has launched Special PR, a standalone public relations business, which will be led by former Red Havas managing partner Alex Bryant with an offering across Sydney and Melbourne. In her previous role, Bryant had national responsibility for Red Havas’ consumer and brand clients across PR, social and creative. Prior to that, she was the agency’s executive director of Sydney PR. Her background includes agency leadership roles at and Map and Page and in-house marketing, communications and digital roles at Westpac and Colgate-Palmolive.

The London International Awards has named Australia's Adam Ferrier, chief thinker at Thinkerbell as its 2023 Transformative Business Impact and Creative Use Of Data jury president.  A creative strategist and consumer psychologist. Ferrier co-founded Thinkerbell, an independent creative agency. Chaka Sobhani, global chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide was named Integration jury president. Representing Asia on these two juries are Jung A Kim, chief creative officer at Innocean Korea (Integration) and Guilet Libby, creative director at Distillery Singapore (Transformative Business Impact and Creative Use Of Data).

Think HQ has been appointed agency of record for hybrid/EV battery innovator Infinitev and will deliver marketing and customer experience (CX) consulting, including setting up CX foundation tools and user research, and customer journey mapping and personas.

Corporate affairs firm Bastion Reputation has added three emerging talents in its Melbourne and Sydney offices. Clare Spratt, Kaysia Thompson, and Blanca Brew join the agency’s client executive stream. Spratt joined in April as a senior client executive after stints at PR and creative agency Keep Left and NINE Entertainment, and brings communications expertise in finance, property, government, and tech. Thompson brings experience from Sydney Anglican Diocese and Association of Independent Schools NSW to her role as client executive. Brew interned with Reputation over the summer and joins as assistant client executive.

DDB Group Australia has appointed Dan Bolton as creative partner of DDB Sydney to focus on the agency's long-time client Westpac. Bringing more than 14 years of experience to the team, he served clients like Qantas, Coors Light, Sealy, John West, Heinz, and McDonald’s. Bolton was creative director at Howatson + Co and Havas London. Prior to that, he worked at DDB Aotearoa New Zealand as senior art director. He also worked at M&C Saatchi and Droga5 in his early career.

App development firm OutSystems has appointed Christine Nurnberger as chief marketing officer. Having led teams in the B2B and SaaS industries for more than two decades, Nurnberger most recently served as CMO at cybersecurity company ExtraHop. Prior to that, she was the CMO at Bottomline for eight years. 

Icon Agency co-founder and managing director, Joanne Painter, has been appointed to The PR Trust Board of Trustees of the global entity, The Future Communicators Foundation (FCF). With over 30 years of experience in communications, Painter has served on the National Board of the Public Relations Institute of Australia for ten years specialising in behaviour change communications, purpose-led marketing and digital transformation. FCF provides scholarships, learning opportunities, and outreach programs that foster communication skills around sustainability, climate science, and social justice, focusing on developing countries and underserved communities.

Martech firm Xtend has appointed Murali Dharan as its new chief commercial officer, effective immediately. Dharan, an industry veteran with over a decade of experience in digital marketing and programmatic strategy, will be based in Singapore. He comes from Shopee, where he was head of partnerships and programmatic.