announcement2

CtrlShift, that develops advertising technology and provides data-science and media-trading services to clients and publishers in the region, has announced three new appointments to its management team.

Deepika NikhilenderDeepika Nikhilender has been named its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) by the CtrlShift board. Deepika joined CtrlShift earlier this year as Managing Director. As CEO, Deepika is responsible for managing and growing CtrlShift in APAC and beyond, while maintaining the company’s agnostic technology offerings, “start-up” mentality and focus on results.

Shelly ManethShelly Maneth joins as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Shelly brings more than 20 years of experience in financial management and consultancy to CtrlShift. She was previously CFO of ConneXionsAsia, a Singapore-headquartered online health and wellness marketplace, and earlier, APAC Director of Finance at A.T. Kearney, and Oliver Wyman, leading global management consulting firms. She moved to Asia in 1995 with Deloitte and is a US qualified CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner).

Serm Teck ChoonSerm Teck Choon, currently Head of Product, has been given the additional responsibility of Country Head of Malaysia. In March this year, he was also named President of the Malaysian Digital Association, a council that represents the digital publishing and advertising industry in Malaysia. Before joining CtrlShift, Serm led digital product development and management for Star Media Group Berhad, Malaysia’s leading integrated and innovative media group.

Deepika, Serm, and Shelly join a talented 150- person strong team and sets the stage for aggressive growth in the region. The new team will lead CtrlShift during a time when Southeast Asia’s digital advertising market, together with programmatic, are primed for huge growth. The number of internet users in Southeast Asia is expected to increase to 480 million users by 2020, close to an increase of 85% compared to 260 million users in 2015. With a larger online population, the size of Southeast Asia’s online advertising market is expected to increase almost five-fold to US$9.9 billion by 2025, up from US$2.1 billion in 2015 according to Google.

Former CEO and Co-founder Rene E. Menezes will join fellow Co-founders Pete Yoong and Reza Behnam on the CtrlShift Holdings Board of Directors.

 


 

Robert WoolfreyAmobee, the marketing technology arm of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel), announced the appointment of digital and mobile advertising expert Robert Woolfrey as Senior Vice-President, Asia, who will a play a key role in driving the company’s continued international growth.

Woolfrey was formerly regional head, APAC, for Verizon/AOL owned advertising firm Millennial Media, and set up the company’s Asia operations in 2011. Prior to Millennial Media, Woolfrey led sales for inMobi across Southeast Asia.

Amobee also announced the launch of Amobee Triggers, a solution providing marketers the ability to target and deliver digital campaigns at key consumer mindset moments.

Powered by the company’s Brand Intelligence platform, Amobee Triggers enables brands to activate media around the moments that matter most to consumers. Amobee Brand Intelligence analyses over 60 billion digital content engagements daily across the web, social, mobile and video to identify, monitor, and trigger digital campaigns based on real time trending topics of interest for consumers at times that will best drive engagement and performance.

In alignment with the company’s future-forward approach to marketing technology and digital advertising solutions, Amobee has in addition unveiled a refreshed brand identity on its website and for all external communications.

 


 

Jennifer RisiOgilvy & Mather has promoted Jennifer Risi to Ogilvy PR’s Global Chief Communications Officer effective immediately.

She will remain Head of Media Relations, continuing to lead the Ogilvy Media Influence network and will focus on driving earned media campaigns across Ogilvy, North America.

Risi will have multiple key responsibilities in the newly expanded role. She will continue to lead global strategic media relations and will work across the Ogilvy, North America group – establishing new working models, creating IP and promoting "earned media" focused strategy for clients. She will also assume responsibilities to lead all communications for Ogilvy PR globally.

Risi will report directly to Ogilvy PR's Global CEO Stuart Smith and will work closely with leaders such as Lauren Crampsie, Global CMO, Ogilvy & Mather and Mark Himmelsbach, President, Content & Social, Ogilvy North America.

Risi joined Ogilvy PR in 2011, and for the past five years, has grown the agency’s media relations capabilities, establishing a global community of media relations experts. During her time at the agency, she has demonstrated expertise in nation branding, CEO positioning and corporate reputation as well as a passion for promoting key gender and diversity issues [i.e. work with UN Women]. She has been a key contributor to new business efforts, a trusted account lead and mentor to many of the teams across the agency.

 


 

Microsoft Corp. and Lenovo announced a deepening of their strategic relationship.

Lenovo will load Microsoft's productivity apps - including Microsoft Office, OneDrive and Skype - on select Lenovo devices that use the Android operating system. Lenovo expects to ship millions of these Android-based devices worldwide over the next several years. This expanded collaboration between Microsoft and Lenovo also includes a patent cross-licensing agreement that covers Lenovo and Motorola devices.

 


 

Teads, the inventor of outstream video advertising, and the world's number one video advertising marketplace, continues its global expansion in Asia Pacific with the hiring of Christian Guinot as SVP of APAC and Yukihiko Imamura as Managing Director for Japan.

Christian GuinotAs the former President of MEC China for over four years, Guinot successfully transformed MEC China into a highly digitalized organization and accelerated its growth strategy while fostering key relationships that will benefit Teads in the APAC region. As Senior Vice President of APAC, Guinot will be responsible for developing Teads' market openings, operations and integration across APAC, from India to Australia. Guinot will report into Bertrand Quesada, CEO and co-founder.

With over 20 years of experience in the technology field, Imamura has a vast understanding of the advertising industry, most recently serving as Managing Director APAC for Kenshoo. Prior to Kenshoo, Imamura led the business development at Dentsu Inc. building strategic partnership with third party technologies. As Managing Director for Teads Japan, Imamura will be responsible for driving strategic relationships with Japan's leading brands, advertising agencies and trading desks. Imamura will report into Christian Guinot.

Teads already has a significant presence in Japan and recently announced $47 million in new debt financing to be used for further expansion into the Asian market. Its outstream technology creates new premium video inventory that did not exist before. In fact, the company's inventory spans over 500-top tier publisher sites globally including Forbes, The Washington Post, Mashable, Slate, Bonnier Corp. Newsweek, Le Monde, Die Welt, The Guardian, The Telegraph, O Globo, Nikkei, Asahi, Sankei, Hearst Japan, Fairfax Media, Conde Nast, FT China, Mediacorp, Apple Daily, South China Morning Post, Reuters APAC, China Daily, India Today and more.

 


 

SpeedCast will be offering tactical secure communications services to government customers, delivering secure X-band network services that combine the affordability, operational utility and scalability required to meet the stringent requirements of government, military and humanitarian operations.

Airbus Defence and Space has also appointed SpeedCast to manage a new anchor station facility for the Skynet 5A military satellite, which is based at SpeedCast’s existing teleport in Adelaide, Australia, inaugurated on May 18, 2016. The company continues to strengthen its commitment to the Australian satellite market, with expanded capabilities at its world class teleport in Adelaide with Skynet satellite communications.

 


 

Steve GrimesFollowing the launch of its consumer website experience earlier this month, Getty Images appoints Comedy Central’s Steve Grimes to the new role of Managing Editor & SVP Consumer Media.

Steve will have editorial oversight of Getty Images’ new consumer platform, and will be responsible for delivering a world-class user experience to the 97% of visitors to gettyimages.com that come to admire, share and engage with the world’s best imagery. Steve will begin his new role at Getty Images on 8 September, 2016.

Based in New York and reporting to Getty Images CEO Dawn Airey, Steve’s appointment marks another significant step in the company’s strategy to extend its core B2B licensing business and establish new revenue streams in the consumer market.

In this new role, which sits on the company’s Executive Committee, Steve will drive the creation of a new consumer-based business stream for Getty images and its 200,000 contributors. With over 200 million award-winning images and Getty Images’ 21 years of industry-leadership and visual communications expertise at his disposal, Steve will create a new media destination serving up the latest in global news, sport and entertainment, alongside iconic historical content and the very best in creative conceptual imagery.

Steve comes to Getty Images from Viacom’s Comedy Central, where, in his most recent role as SVP of Multiplatform Programming & Strategy, he led all aspects of non-linear programming, spanning apps, website, social media and video on demand for all Comedy Central shows, including The Daily Show, Key & Peele and Inside Amy Schumer. During his time there, Steve was twice awarded an Emmy, for Special Programming for The Daily Show and Best Interactive Event for Night of Too Many Stars.

In addition to his entertainment expertise, Steve brings to Getty Images his extensive experience in the sports industry, having served as Chief Digital Officer of ‘The Topps Company’, VP of Interactive at the National Basketball Association, General Manager and Creative Director at RealNetworks and Creative Director at Starwave/Infoseek/Walt Disney Internet Group.

Beginning his career as a designer and copywriter, Steve also has advertising agency experience, having worked at Stratton Advertising in London, UK and Bayer Bess Vanderwarker/FCB in Chicago, where he was VP of Interactive and led the agency’s expansion into interactive advertising.

This hire follows a series of recent new appointments to Getty Images’ Executive Committee as the company drives forward its strategy for growth. In June 2016, the company announced a new Innovation Group spearheaded by Steve Heck, Chief Innovation Officer, and in July 2016, Andrew Hamilton joined Getty Images in the new role of SVP of Data & Insights. These appointments follow the launch of the Getty Images Virtual Reality Group, a new business dedicated to the creation and global distribution of virtual reality content.

 


 

One of the world's most connected cities is getting more internet access options with the launch of Blue Wireless Internet Broadband service for business.

Blue Wireless has unveiled its new business packages designed to provide flexible internet access for small business locations such as a small store, kiosk, construction site or office shop house in Singapore. All typical locations where fiber broadband is not available or require weeks of waiting time to install and require customers to sign up for long term contracts. The company is disrupting this traditional model by offering internet access with next day delivery and month by month plans, making it perfect for today's business that need flexibility to serve changing customer demands.

Blue Wireless uses a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) model, buying 4G mobile network capacity from Singapore mobile operators in bulk and focusing on sales, service and support to business customers. Unlike traditional MVNO's who are bound to a single network, Blue Wireless leverages all three 4G mobile networks in Singapore and select the right network for a specific customer location, always ensuring optimal connectivity. Already serving regional enterprise customers with managed Wireless Internet across Asia Pacific, Blue Wireless now expands with this launch for Singapore into the more competitive small business segment.

 


 

russell skingsley head shotHitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., announced the appointment of Russell Skingsley as its chief technology officer, solutions and products group leader and head of presales for Asia Pacific.

Based in Singapore, he will be responsible for the technical direction of HDS APAC and for leading a team of solution-focused business consultants and technical experts to help customers realize business transformation.

Working with country presales leadership teams, Skingsley will also lead the collaboration and enablement of HDS teams to enhance expertise across a range of domains in the region. He will continue to build alignment across the HDS specialist community and drive its digital transformation strategy in APAC.

Skingsley has over 25 years of work experience in the IT industry and has helped a wide range of customer groups including government departments, financial institutions, major universities and telecommunications providers around the globe.

Prior to joining HDS, he was vice president of systems engineering for APAC at Juniper Networks where he was responsible for driving, developing and promoting technologies and architectures across the telecommunications and enterprise markets. Skingsley has also led teams in APAC that were responsible for providing innovative solutions in cloud computing and data center business, and was previously chief technology officer of a major telecommunications provider in Vietnam.

 


 

AudiGeometry Global Malaysia has been named lead creative agency for Audi Malaysia, following a pitch against a number of agencies.

Geometry Global will undertake full scale creative duties for the luxury car brand, with a heavy focus on stepping up its digital and social media presence to deliver a strong customer experience. The agency, which provides a full service offering to clients through their activation, public relations, creative and social media departments, prides itself on its integrated approach to creative communications.

 


 

Matt Stafford PortraitCohn & Wolfe, a global communications agency, announced the appointment of Matt Stafford as President, Asia-Pacific.

Stafford will oversee the agency’s 12 Asia-Pacific offices, working closely with market leaders across Greater China, India and Southeast Asia to increase collaboration and further the agency’s expansion in the region. Reporting to Donna Imperato, Chief Executive Officer, Cohn & Wolfe Group, Stafford will be based in Hong Kong beginning August 18.

Building on his agency leadership experience across APAC and as the previous cabinet secretary in the Australian government, Stafford will play a key role in building new business, client service and talent development and retention.

Stafford has over 15 years of communications experience in Asia, including senior agency and government leadership roles. As CEO of Burson-Marsteller’s China and Hong Kong markets between 2011 and 2014, Stafford oversaw a substantial business transformation to high revenues and profitability, and also record low client and staff turnover rates. Stafford led a network of more than 250 employees across six offices in Greater China and oversaw many multi-national consumer, tech and corporate accounts including Hong Kong Disneyland, adidas, Qualcomm, Bank of America and Prudential. Stafford was also global client leader and the multi-agency lead for Huawei Consumer. In addition to his recent cabinet secretary appointment, Stafford has also served as director of policy in the office of the Australian Prime Minister.

In September 2015, Cohn & Wolfe acquired Six Degrees PR and Alphabet Consulting in India, and launched a new office in the burgeoning Guangzhou market in China a few months later. Its Southeast Asia network is showing particularly strong performance, with Cohn & Wolfe Malaysia named 2015 Southeast Asia Consultancy of the Year by The Holmes Report and Cohn & Wolfe Singapore winning a Gold SABRE for its unique So You Think You Can Fly campaign. Cohn & Wolfe Asia-Pacific has recently amassed an impressive portfolio of brands such as Alibaba’s Aliyun, Colgate-Palmolive, Tetra Pak, 3M and Nestlé Ice Cream.

 


 

AdAsia Video Network LogoAdAsia Holdings just launched the AdAsia Video Network and AdAsia Video Production, available through the AdAsia Digital Platform.

The AdAsia Video Network features both buy-side and supply-side functionalities, benefitting advertisers, agencies and publishers.

Through the AdAsia Video Network, advertisers and agencies are now able to access and buy video inventory on desktop, mobile web, mobile app and cross-screen, through new and traditional video ad formats including out-stream, in-stream, and rich media video ads.

Publishers can open their inventory to real-time and direct video ad space purchases, manage ad inventory, and monitor and analyze on-going performance with generated reports and SDKs, all through the publisher log-in portal.

Out-stream ads fast-gaining popularity in the region. Publishers looking to provide users with a less intrusive ad experience can simply add the generated AdAsia out-stream video ad tag to enable video ads on their desktop and mobile sites.

Furthermore, AdAsia Holdings intends to support clients’ video and animation production needs through AdAsia Video Production. Clients will have access to drone, 360-degree videography and video animation, in addition to traditional video production formats. Video production requests can be placed through the AdAsia Digital Platform. Video quality ranges from 140p to 2160p, allowing collaterals produced to be placed on the AdAsia Video Network and any other channels.

AdAsia Consultants are also available, to help marketers with their programmatic and video production initiatives and usage of the platform.

 


 

LisbonJoin the Lisbon International Advertising Festival next month

Ticket prices are €60 for normal entries, €30 for every agency or production company that submits work in the competition, and €10 for students and participants of the open briefing - the Young Lisbon.

The festival will open its doors to the public at 14h00, starting off with 3 panels of discussion:

 

1. "The Future: Branded Content or Storytelling in traditional media?" with the speakers Luis Silva Dias (Chief Creative Officer of FCB International), Ramzy Haddad (Executive Creative Director of Publicis Middle East at MENA Region) and Tereza Sverakova (Executive Creative Director of Young & Rubicam Prague).

2. "Brands with a purpose or brands focused in great creativity?" with the speakers Alasdhair Macgregor (VP and Executive Creative Director of BETC), Jason Romeyko (Global Chief Creative Officer of the GSK & Deutsche Telekom accounts, and the Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland) and Sarah Barclay (Executive Creative Director of J. Walter Thompson New York).

3. "How not to let a great idea die" with the speakers Chacho Puebla (Chief Creative Officer and Partner at LOLA MullenLowe), Dörte Spengler-Ahrens (Chief Creative Officer of Jung von Matt Elbe) and Eugene Cheong (Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy & Mather, Asia Pacific & Singapore).

After the three discussion panels, the festival will hold a special individual conference with the Executive Jury’s president Mr. Washington Olivetto, one of the prestigious and most notable names in the advertising industry, who will be awarded a Lisboa Career Award.

Between the conferences and the award ceremony the festival will promote a Lisbon Networking Coffee Break, where attendees will have the opportunity to meet and talk to our speakers in a more relaxed tone.

Last but not least, the award ceremony will take place, where the winners will be announced from all around the world, as well as the Young Lisbon briefing winners and also the agency and production company of the year.

The organization recommends that you purchase your ticket in advance, to avoid a last minute rush. You can submit your work in the competition until the 12th of August.

 


 

Yvonne Chang PhotoThe performance marketing technology company, Criteo, announced the appointment of Yvonne Chang as Executive Managing Director of Asia-Pacific (APAC) to lead the company’s fastest-growing region globally. In Q1 2016, Criteo’s revenue in APAC grew by 52% to US$38 million, accounting for almost one quarter of the company’s total revenue and making it Criteo’s fastest-growing region.

Criteo enables eCommerce businesses and advertisers to effectively engage and convert customers online by delivering highly relevant and personalized advertising to consumers, regardless of whether they are browsing on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Based in Singapore, her mandate is to establish operational rigor, provide strategic direction and accelerate the growth of Criteo’s regional business. Yvonne oversees offices in Australia, China, Japan, India, Singapore and South Korea. She is also responsible for new business development and the expansion of advertiser and publisher relationships in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and The Philippines.

Chang will provide strategic direction and further accelerate the growth of Criteo’s APAC business, whose portfolio of customers currently includes AskmeBazaar, Expedia, Hotels.com, Rakuten, MatahariMall.com and ZALORA.

An experienced digital marketer, Yvonne brings her deep understanding of digital media content, display and search advertising, branded content, rich media and eCommerce to deliver effective and integrated solutions for brands across the Asia Pacific region.

Her most recent role was President of Eastern Broadcasting, one of the largest media companies in Taiwan. Prior to joining Eastern Broadcasting in 2014, she had spent more than ten years at Yahoo!, taking on a series of regional leadership roles in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where she worked closely with regional and in-market sales teams to drive development and adoption of the company’s advertising technologies and solutions.

From 2007 to 2009, Yvonne moved to China and was the Vice President for Search Engine and Search Monetization for Alibaba Group, where she established a business unit for performance advertising and introduced product search capabilities for Taobao.com, China’s largest eCommerce site. She also brings a wealth of management experience gleaned from key positions held in multinational corporations such as Bausch & Lomb, Swatch Group and L’Oreal, where she was in charge of profit and loss, distribution channels, marketing and brand management.

Yvonne received her master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas in Austin. Influential and well respected across the internet businesses industry, she currently sits on various judging panels for a number of regional online advertising awards.

 


 

Grey Group unveiled a new end-to-end structure for Greater China that fully integrates its specialist agencies in below-the-line and digital social media: Star Echo, DPI, BrandCom, ArtM and Easycom to fuel innovative holistic solutions for its leading global and local partners.

Global Executive Director, TH Peng, has architected the transformation, culminating a succession of acquisitions that have driven unprecedented growth and expanded the agency’s reach and resources since he joined as Chairman and CEO of Greater China in 2012.

To integrate the new model, Grey Group will elevate top management into group level leadership roles that integrate all staff spanning advertising, digital, social, activation, shopper and experiential teams:

  • Sarah Trombetta has been promoted to CEO of Grey Group Hong Kong, formerly MD, Grey Hong Kong.
  • June Lyloc has been promoted to CEO of Grey Group Shanghai, formerly MD Grey Shanghai.
  • Keith Ho has been promoted to CEO of Grey Group Beijing, formerly MD & chief creative officer, Grey Hong Kong.

In addition to the group level CEO appointments, Joseph Tsang, Digital eCosystem Director of Grey Group Greater China, has been promoted to MD of Grey Social, Greater China, and Desmond Chan, has been promoted to EVP, Chief Growth Officer, Greater China.