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Williams Lea Tag, the leading independent provider of marketing and communications services, appointed Dan Healy as Head of Business Development APAC.
Healy is a senior sale, business development, and marketing professional with extensive experience managing high performing teams. Originally, from Melbourne, Australia, he has over ten years of international business development experience having worked in London, Paris and Hong Kong.
Prior to joining Williams Lea Tag, Healy worked at CBRE for ten years where he held several senior business development positions across their global business. His most recent role was as APAC Head of Business Development where he was responsible for embedding best practice around client focused selling and driving growth across all areas of the business.
Adzymic, a Singapore-based ad-tech start-up, appointed Mr. Travis Teo as co-founder and Executive Director.
Travis will spearhead product and innovation, customer success and advertisement operations of the start-up with effect from 1st May 2018, and is excited to move from an advisor role to co-lead the young start-up.
Travis joins from SAP, where he led regional digital media practices for the Asia Pacific/Japan region, including programmatic media, paid search and global media innovation. Prior to his regional role, he was based in Shanghai for three years, leading the campaign management team and telemarketing team for SAP China. Prior to that, Travis has held various roles in digital marketing across technology companies such as Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems, acquired by Oracle in 2010.
Adzymic was co-founded by Kenniess Wong, an advertising industry veteran and Executive Director of Osprey Media, a boutique media agency based in Singapore and Malaysia.
INVNT, an independently owned, global 'live' brand events agency, has launched its APAC operations to address a surge of demand across the region for live brand storytellers.
Originally founded in New York in 2008 by Scott Cullather and Kristina McCoobery, INVNT was created to be the best live brand storytelling agency in the world. The company's "challenge everything" positioning statement has seen INVNT's roster of clients grow worldwide and has seen revenue grow 107% since July of 2017.
The INVNT Sydney office is being led by Australian native, Laura Roberts, who was part of the agency's founding team back in 2008. Laura has taken on the role as Managing Director, to drive the agency's growth and development throughout the APAC region. With decades of events experience, Laura has worked all over the world, across multiple sectors for a wide range of multi-national brands.
Meltwater, a pioneer of media intelligence and now Outside Insight, announced its acquisition of Sysomos, a leader in social analytics and engagement.
The addition of Sysomos to Meltwater enables organizations to analyze social media, news and other human-generated content in one platform, furthering Meltwater’s mission to give businesses the insights from outside data, helping them stay ahead.
For the PR and communications teams who engage with influencers over social media, Meltwater’s existing Media Intelligence division will now offer integrated news monitoring and social engagement.
Under Meltwater, Sysomos will become the Social Analytics division with a focus on delivering timely and relevant insights to brands and marketing teams. Both divisions support Meltwater’s mission to give businesses insights from external data.
The Sysomos acquisition is Meltwater’s seventh in the last 18 months. Following the acquisition of DataSift last month, the Sysomos acquisition cements Meltwater as the market leader of both Social Analytics and Media Intelligence.
DataWeave, a Competitive Intelligence as a Service provider for retailers and consumer brands, announced the launch of its Counterfeit Products Detection solution, which enables consumer brands to discover and curb the presence of counterfeit products on e-commerce websites using AI-powered image and text analytics. The solution is the latest addition to the company's Brand Governance product suite.
DataWeave's unique approach, which leverages its proprietary data aggregation platform and robust deep-learning models, involves analyzing the catalog images and content of millions of products across diverse product types, enabling e-commerce executives and brand managers of consumer brands to detect counterfeit products at an accuracy of over 95%. Fake products are identified by capturing minute discrepancies in catalog images and content, while unauthorized white labeling or image theft is spotted when the image of a product matches perfectly with the original brand's, but other catalog content details are dissimilar.
DataWeave's Brand Governance product suite also enables consumer brands to cut down on minimum advertised price (MAP) violations, track unauthorized merchants selling their products, and optimize the quality of their online catalog representation.
comScore announced the appointment of Bryan Wiener as chief executive officer. A current member of the comScore board of directors, Wiener brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in the media and technology industry to his new role as CEO of comScore. Most recently, Wiener served as executive chairman at 360i, a 1,000-plus-employee advertising agency known for its ability to help brands capitalize on change through innovation and a data-driven approach to marketing.
With the appointment of Wiener as CEO, Bill Livek, comScore’s current executive vice chairman and president, will transition to the new role of vice chairman of the board and special advisor to the CEO. Wiener and Livek will assume their new positions on May 30, 2018. The CEO position at comScore has been unoccupied since former CEO, Gian Fulgoni, retired in November 2017.
In addition to the CEO appointment, comScore is announcing changes to its board of directors, effective immediately. Rob Norman, a renowned advisor to media and marketing companies and former chief digital officer of WPP’s GroupM, has been named to comScore’s board of directors. Current board member Brent Rosenthal has been named non-executive chair.
Lenovo announced strategic structural changes for its operations in Asia.
The Singapore and Malaysia cluster for Lenovo’s PC and Smart Devices unit, which has operated as a joint entity in the past year, will now operate separately to accelerate growth in both key markets. The company is currently in the midst of tremendous transformation as consumer technology and mobile adoption picks up in Southeast Asia. There have been significant improvements in the business in Singapore and Malaysia in the last two years, hence sharper, dedicated focus is needed to seize the opportunity to further elevate Lenovo’s leadership in the industry.
Lenovo Singapore is now led by Eddie Ang, who took over from Khoo Hung Chuan as Country General Manager. Eddie holds the position on top of his current role as Executive Director, Corporate and Public Sector Business for Lenovo Central Asia Pacific. Khoo Hung Chuan will continue to lead Malaysia’s market. Hence, Eddie not only oversees and leads Lenovo’s business in Singapore, but be responsible for managing and growing the company’s key corporate and public sector accounts in the region. Furthermore, he will drive business transformation initiatives which reinforce best practices and support growth.
Prior to his current role, Eddie led Lenovo’s Data Center Group business in Asia Pacific, overseeing alliances, product and business operations across the region. Under his leadership, Lenovo successfully expanded its presence in Server, Storage and Data Center solutions and services. He joined Lenovo in 2007 as Senior Product Manager, responsible for launching the ThinkStation business across the region and then served as Lenovo’s Commercial Leader for Asia Pacific, where he managed the growth of all Think-branded products in the SMB, Corporate, and Public Sector segments. Earlier in his career, Eddie held key management positions in manufacturing, engineering, and product marketing at Dell.
As Lenovo continues its provision of a full spectrum of end-to-end consumer and commercial solutions from PCs and smart devices, to solutions for data center challenges and large-scale business implementations, this change cements its commitment to grow in the rapidly evolving consumer and enterprise technology markets in Singapore and Malaysia.
State Street Global Advisors, the asset management arm of State Street Corporation, announced the appointment of Ellen Tsang as head of Marketing for Asia ex-Japan, effective April 3, 2018.
Based in Hong Kong, Tsang is responsible for developing marketing strategies and initiatives for State Street Global Advisors’ intermediary and institutional channels in Asia ex-Japan. She reports directly to Richard Parker, London-based global head of Institutional Marketing, and locally to June Wong, head of Asia ex-Japan at State Street Global Advisors.
Tsang joined State Street Global Advisors from Standard Life Investments, where she served as head of marketing for Asia ex-Japan. Prior to that, Tsang gained a wealth of regional marketing experience with Amundi Asset Management, Pictet Asset Management and with distributors including MassMutual and BCT Group.
APAC’s regional effectiveness and strategy awards, Tangrams, has announced the Jury Presidents for the Digital Strategy and Data and e-Commerce juries.
Erica Kerner, Vice President, Marketing & Communications Asia-Pacific for Tiffany & Co., will lead the Digital Strategy Jury and Juliana Chu, Director of Digital & Analytics, Asia Pacific Region for Kimberly-Clark, will head the Data & Analytics and e-Commerce Juries.
In her role at Tiffany & Co., Erica is responsible for all aspects of the brand’s marketing and communications planning, strategy and implementation throughout Asia Pacific. Having held a similar role at Ralph Lauren prior to joining Tiffany & Co. in 2013, she brings over 20 years of marketing experience in Asia Pacific, and specifically Greater China. Previously at adidas as director of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Erica delivered the company’s marketing, sponsorship, licensing and business development activities and her team won China’s first-ever Cannes Gold Lion for the adidas Olympics campaign. Erica went on to hold the same role for adidas at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Juliana has over 10 years’ experience in consulting, strategy and marketing in the FMCG sector in Asia. In her current role at Kimberly Clark, she is responsible for driving the digital marketing, ecommerce and analytics agenda for the Asia Pacific region, including the rollout and optimization of core initiatives such as programmatic media buying, CRM, data management platform and datalake. Prior to working for Kimberly Clark, Juliana worked with Deloitte as an accountant and A.T. Kearney as a management consultant advising clients from various industries including FMCG sector on strategies as well as operations.
Erica Kerner and Juliana Chu join previously announced jury presidents, David Porter for Effectiveness and Josephine Tan for Media Strategy who will each oversee their respective award streams for Tangrams 2018.
Entry deadline for Tangrams has now been extended to 20 April 2018. For more information, please visit www.tangrams.asia.
Winners will be announced on 26 September 2018 at Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity.
Getronics announced the appointment of Mukul Jain as the new CEO of Getronics APAC, following changes to its leadership team in the region.
The news comes as the company aims to double in size after the IT services provider was acquired by Bottega InvestCo S.a r.l, in July 2017.
Mukul Jain has worked at Getronics for nine years, operating in a number of key commercial and management positions, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Sales Officer and Head of Professional Services Business Unit, where he has been pivotal in the renewal of key client contracts, as well as in revolutionizing new channels for the global and regional business. He brings his strong regional knowledge and experience to the new position. Combined with his consulting, sales and operating background, he intends to build on Getronics’ service quality and customer satisfaction in the APAC market. Mukul takes over from Frank Fellinger, who served as regional CEO for three years.
Speedcast International Limited, a provider of remote communication and IT services, announced that Clive Cuthell is joining the Speedcast executive leadership team as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He will report to CEO Pierre-Jean Beylier and start on April 9, 2018.
Cuthell is a veteran finance leader with over 25 years of experience. His recent experience includes the global CFO role at Nuplex Industries, global company dual listed in New Zealand and Australia, and five years with the global cement major, Holcim.
As Speedcast's CFO he will lead the group's finance activities, contribute to ongoing growth and ensure that robust financial disciplines & governance are maintained.
Havas Media Asia Pacific announced the promotion of Jacqui Lim, CEO of Havas Media Singapore as its Head of Business Development for Asia Pacific.
Jacqui will continue to manage Singapore operations as the CEO reporting in to Vishnu Mohan, Chairman & CEO for the Group for India & SEA and the new role will see her taking on additional responsibilities as the new business lead for the Group’s media operations.
Reporting in to Havas Group’s Chairman & CEO Mike Amour, she will be working closely with the Group’s sub-regional CEOs as well as Havas Creative Group's new business team led by Sunny Hermano to roll out a new business strategy centred around the network’s integrated Village model.
Joining the group in a leadership role in October 2014, Jacqui brought in a new dynamism and energy, building a strong strategy, digital and delivery team to support her in the agency's growth vision. The agency has nearly doubled in staff and billings over this period securing several blue-chip clients including Changi Airport, Singtel, Fairprice, Warner Bros., Health Promotion Board, Cycle & Carriage, Wildlife Reserves and Esplanade to name a few.
Bloomberg Media Group announced the appointment of Mike Jackson as Managing Director, Sales in Asia Pacific.
In this role, Jackson will be responsible for advertising sales strategy in the region across Bloomberg's multi-platform, integrated offerings. Based in Singapore, Jackson will manage Bloomberg Media Group’s APAC sales organization, overseeing cross-platform sales initiatives to a wide range of clients.
Under Global Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Benett, Bloomberg Media Group is transforming its business model to an integrated marketing services and consulting entity, delivering business solutions to brands that are driven “from and for” Bloomberg’s highly influential audience across six complementary pillars: business and brand consulting, audience insight and development, marketing strategy, integrated marketing communications, corporate communications and content marketing organizational design. Bloomberg Media Group’s unique global model, a first of its kind in the media and publishing landscape, builds on the organization’s audience insights to deliver the smartest, business driven solutions for clients.
Mike brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the media, advertising and content industry, most recently as Managing Director of MEC Wavemaker, where he was responsible for delivering format and platform-neutral content solutions for clients across Asia as part of a broader communications strategy. Prior to his last decade in Asia, he spent five years as a managing partner at Mindshare Europe. Jackson is replacing Mark Froude, who will be leaving Bloomberg in early April to move back to New Zealand.
Specialist professional recruitment firm Robert Walters announced the appointment of Rob Bryson as the new Managing Director for Singapore.
Rob brings with him over 17 years of experience in recruitment and has previously worked in Indonesia, the UK and Australia.
Prior to the appointment, Rob held the position of Director of Robert Walters Indonesia for four years and spearheaded the Jakarta operations. During his time in Indonesia, Rob oversaw a period of significant growth in the company. Before his move to Jakarta, he worked in the Melbourne office as a Director, responsible for the Group’s Accounting & Finance, Sales & Marketing and Human Resources recruitment businesses.
Leading the development of Robert Walters’ business in Singapore, Rob will play a pivotal role in growing the company’s strengths in key disciplines. He will also build on the company’s reputation of providing the best possible service to its clients and candidates. Robert Walters opened in Singapore on 3rd May 1998 and is today the regional Southeast Asian headquarters for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines.
Skyworth Group and Baidu, Inc. established a strategic partnership that enables seamless integration of AI software and hardware.
Baidu will make a strategic investment in Skyworth's Internet TV brand, Shenzhen Coocaa Network Technology Company Limited and its conversational artificial intelligence (AI) system DuerOS will be fully integrated with Coocaa's system. The two parties plan to cooperate in the field of AI, to jointly provide consumers with entry-level smart-home products and service.
Baidu and Skyworth established a strategic partnership
Baidu's founder, Chairman and CEO Robin Li, as well as Skyworth Group's founder Huang Hongsheng and board Chairman Lai Weide attended the signing ceremony.
The partnership focuses on two strategies, namely:
Access to capital: Skyworth Digital Holdings Limited announced on March 16 that Baidu's wholly-owned subsidiary Dagze Bairuixiang Venture Investment Management Co plans to invest 1.01 billion yuan (approx. US$159.7 million) in Coocaa, Skyworth's majority-owned subsidiary, becoming the second largest shareholder of Coocaa as a result of the transaction. According to available data, Coocaa received a strategic investment from Baidu's iQiyi in September 2016, followed by a similar investment from Tencent in June 2017. Upon completion of the new round of investment from Baidu, Coocaa's market valuation will be near 10 billion yuan (approx. US$1.6 billion). Currently, Coocaa has more than 28 million active users, with daily active users exceeding 12 million. Coocaa is among the top players in its industry, in terms of both number of users and market valuation.
Business synergy: In terms of product, Skyworth plans to launch the AI TV series, including Q5, Q6 and Q7, which are equipped with both the firm's proprietary operating system CoocaaOS and Baidu's conversational AI system DuerOS. And previous smart TV models that are equipped with the Coocaa system will be gradually upgraded to the dual set up later this year as well. The two companies also plan to launch entry-level smart-home products, and integrate them into the control terminal for smart home solutions. In terms of technology, DuerOS will be fully integrated with Coocaa's system, embedding Baidu's leading-edge technical capabilities such as face and image recognition into Coocaa's system. In addition, Baidu and Skyworth plan to jointly research and develop more forward-looking technological solutions on smart home filed.
The final area in which Skyworth and Baidu plan to cooperate is the smart home. The partnership enables perfect integration of both firms' respective strategies. The tie-up will allow Skyworth to fully enter the field of AI, combining the internet with AI chip technologies to upgrade TV and other products and services that enables Skyworth to achieve its goal of reaching a valuation of 100 billion yuan. As Baidu's AI capabilities already has access to a broad range of hardware, the deal will facilitate the search engine's ability to leverage its advantages in software, algorithms, content and service in the home.
The crossover cooperation enables both parties to complement their respective leadership positions in software and hardware.
Sourced Group, a leading IT consulting firm specializing in large-scale cloud transformations for enterprise clients, announced its new organizational structure to serve its worldwide customer base even better. Originally based in Australia and Canada, the company expanded its presence into the Singapore market in July 2017 with a dedicated executive and delivery team that has gone on to engage with leading local enterprises in the financial services and aviation industries.
Founded in 2010, Sourced Group provides professional, project and managed services for securing, migrating and managing the cloud infrastructure of Fortune 500 clients in financial services, aviation, healthcare and other regulated industries. With the company planning to continue to align itself directly to clients' key operational regions, Sourced recently completed a global strategic roadmap to ensure it positions itself effectively to deliver world-class services to its global clients, and their communities. As a result of the review, the company is announcing the following appointments, effective immediately:
Jonathan Spinks, Founder and Principal Consultant of Sourced, becomes Chief Executive Officer and is based in Toronto, Canada. His focus has always been helping highly regulated and security conscious enterprises move to the cloud efficiently and effectively. Prior to founding Sourced, Jonathan was a Solutions Architect for financial services clients at Frontline Systems Australia, and earlier with JPMorgan Chase - Asia Pacific, where he headed up the UNIX Systems and Infrastructure Technology Planning functions. Reporting to Jonathan are three newly created positions of Managing Director for ASEAN, ANZ and North America.
1. Based in Singapore, John Painter takes on the role of Managing Director for ASEAN. John joined Sourced as a Solutions Architect in 2012 and was promoted to Principal Consultant in 2014. He launched the Singapore office in 2017 as Country Lead. Prior to Sourced, John was a Consulting Engineer for Frontline Systems Australia and Lead Engineer of their High Performance Computing and VFX program.
2. Salma Datenis, based in Sydney, Australia, assumes the role of Managing Director for ANZ. Salma joined Sourced in 2015 as Cloud Infrastructure Architect and shortly after became Head of Engineering. She became Country Lead for Australia in 2017. Prior to Sourced, Salma was a Technical Systems Integrator at Macquarie Group.
3. Paul Bertoni, based in Toronto, Canada, becomes Managing Director for North America. Paul joined Sourced in 2016 as Head of Project Services. Prior to Sourced, Paul held several technical leadership and project management positions with companies including Unity Consulting and ICOM, a division of Epsilon Targeting. He began his career as a Technical Support Manager with Bank of Montreal.
