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NetSuiteNetSuite Inc., the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, announced that it has appointed Zakir Ahmed as Vice President and General Manager, Asia.

In this new role, Ahmed is charged with building and leading the organization across NetSuite's offices in Singapore, the Philippines and Hong Kong He will be based out of NetSuite's Singapore office.

Ahmed has more than 20 years of experience in management, customer acquisition and retention as well as sales leadership across the globe, complemented by a strong understanding of the Asian market. Prior to NetSuite, He was with TechnologyOne Corp, where he served as General Manager for a $50 million business unit. Before that he was with Salesforce.com, Microcell, CGI and Steltor (now Oracle).

Ahmed's proven track record with midmarket businesses in the region will be instrumental in helping NetSuite to further add to its growing list of customers. Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud.

 


 


Matt-SuttonAdknowledge Asia has appointed Matt Sutton as its first CEO in the region.

Matt will be responsible for driving the next wave of expansion for their proprietary social and video platform AdParlor. The plans include doubling headcount through growth in existing markets (Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, India, Philippines and Taiwan) as well as entering new markets. As CEO of Adknowledge Asia, Matt is leading Asia’s largest social and video advertising platform with 140 employees across nine markets. Since his former company Komli was acquired into Adknowledge in 2015, he has been overseeing all aspects of business operations in the Asia Pacific region. His focus will be on doubling headcount across Asia, entering new markets and a data partnership strategy.

One of the key changes Matt has seen in the Asia digital market has been the growing impact of advertising technology on the accessibility and efficiency of digital media buying. Matt believes the next wave of digital advertising growth will be driven by companies that operate at the intersection where social, video, technology and data meet. Hence, AdParlor is well placed to service Asia’s advertisers in this space.

Adknowledge Asia, working in partnership with Axiata, one of the world’s largest telecommunication companies, is pioneering the use of telecom data to improve ad targeting and insight generation on social media networks through the AdParlor platform. As one of the few YouTube ‘value added technology’ platforms - and the only one in Asia with a full service account management and operations team in multiple markets - Matt takes over a platform in a market leading position to enable advertisers to generate maximum ROI from the social space as well as facilitate advertisers moving media spend from TV to digital video, to capture the growing audience of consumers watching video on social channels.

Matt will move into the new role from his previous position as Senior Vice President, Operations for Adknowledge Asia. In the newly established regional CEO role, Matt will report to the board, which includes Adknowledge Inc. Global CEO, Ben Legg, who has been overseeing AdParlor’s new wave of expansion across the region. This change will also see Damien Lavin, Managing Director for SEA and ANZ promoted to Chief Revenue Officer. Damien will be responsible for customer acquisition and service across all of Adknowledge Asia’s offices and will report to Matt.

 


 

Hootsuite announced the acquisition of Sales Prodigy, a mobile app built to help sales organizations tap into social selling opportunities. With Sales Prodigy, Hootsuite customers can quickly and easily find social selling opportunities and start conversations with prospects and customers in real-time on social media.

According to "The 2015 State of Social Business: Priorities Shift From Scaling to Integrating," a report by Altimeter, a Prophet Company, 64% of organizations have or plan to have a social selling program. The report notes that simply teaching sales to use social tools isn’t enough unless it’s backed up by an organization that can support and integrate social selling via a content repository, engagement tools, and performance metrics that reflects changes in expected behavior.

Sales organizations across a wide variety of industries, from financial services to real estate, can use Hootsuite to efficiently source and close deals. Social selling solutions can help customers:

• Consolidate all of their social networks and online communities in one platform

• Filter out the noise through targeted, listening streams

• Track and measure success with comprehensive analytics

• Listen for the right opportunities to engage with prospects and customers

• Improve their understanding of target accounts in anticipation for sales calls

• Educate customers on social media policies and guidelines

Previously, Sales Prodigy was a part of Hootsuite’s open ecosystem App Directory, a versatile platform that supports more than 200 business integrations and applications, helping organizations extend social media into existing systems and programs.

 


 

Adobe and comScore announced a global strategic partnership to provide new insights into the media consumption behaviors of digital audiences.

This new partnership will deliver consistent, cross-device audience measurement of video and ad content, providing advanced insight into consumer viewing behaviors for better media planning and buying. Through this partnership, comScore is incorporating new Adobe Certified Metrics, standardized digital census data built on the Adobe Platform and powered by Adobe Analytics, into its Cross Media, Audience and Advertising Product Suites. In addition, Adobe will integrate comScore audience data, including demographics, for Adobe Marketing Cloud customers.

People are watching content on an increasingly broad variety of devices. Paid digital content services are on the rise and, for two years running, the total number of authenticated digital TV views has doubled annually according to Adobe Digital Index.

Comparable cross-platform metrics are one of the biggest friction points in television’s digital transformation. Media companies, publishers, multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and advertisers are all looking for ways to reliably measure audiences, content and advertising engagement across all platforms.

The collaboration provides seamless, census-based measurement of digital video content and ads for the most popular platforms, including TV, video on demand, smartphones, tablets, game consoles and over-the-top connected devices. In addition it provides marketers globally with trusted insights, including key metrics on the number of video starts, time spent watching and rate of ad engagement, to optimize their ad campaigns and more efficiently reach the right audiences across TV and digital.

Media companies will leverage these enhanced insights to better forecast how content performs across platforms and particular audience segments. Additionally, agencies will be able to take advantage of the full potential of the massive amounts of data generated in the modern media world.

The integration of comScore’s audience information with Adobe Marketing Cloud will enable further optimization of audience segments for targeted marketing campaigns, including email, video, display and search advertising. Adobe customers will also be able to forecast how well marketing content performs against specific audience segments.

 


 

Research Now, the global leader in digital data collection to power analytics and insights, announced that Gary Laben has been chosen as the new Chief Executive Officer effective as of March 29 and will become a member of the Board. He succeeds former President and CEO Kurt Knapton , who tendered his resignation in October 2015 , but remains on the Board.

Laben brings over 25 years of executive leadership and industry experience in using data to power marketing decisions for clients, most recently serving as Chief Executive Officer of KBM Group and as Global Chief Data Officer of Wunderman. KBM Group, a data-driven marketing solutions company, and Wunderman, a digital and direct marketing agency, are both part of WPP. As CEO of KBM, he led the company through the successful integration of several acquisitions and mergers, directed its global expansion, and is recognized for having built and unified the management teams.

Research Now also announced that John Rothwell, the company's Chief Operating Officer. has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer. Rothwell, the first employee of Research Now, returned to the company four years ago and now leads the company's market-facing functions.

 


 

Cam-WalkerSoutheast Asia’s leading Internet TV service, iflix, announced the appointment of Cam Walker as Head of iflix Indonesia.

Cam Walker joins the company with over 20 years experience in media, content and marketing led businesses. He was most recently with Emtek Group, one of Indonesia’s most prominent media, content and technology businesses, and the parent company to Indonesia’s leading free-to-air TV networks. Emtek Group, through its subsidiary Surya Citra Media, was recently announced as an investor in iflix’s latest round of funding.

As the Head of Content Development, Mr Walker spearheaded the restructure of the group’s production joint ventures, internal production teams and studios into a consolidated, independent content company, PT IEG. He also oversaw the monetization of the network’s extensive content library, OTT distribution and partnerships, and linear pay channel development. Prior to Emtek, Mr Walker served as Vice-President – Territory Head, Indonesia for Fox International Channels.

Now available in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, iflix will continue to roll out its world-class service to additional key Southeast Asian markets in the coming months. The company offers consumers the largest library of top Hollywood, Asian regional, and local TV shows and movies available in the region. Each subscription allows users to access the service on up to five devices, including phones, laptops, tablets, and television sets, for viewing wherever, whenever. iflix subscribers can also download TV shows and movies from iflix’s extensive library for offline viewing.

 


 

wordsMutant Communications launched Words, a Singapore-based content creation platform that allows marketing professionals to easily order and pay for content marketing material online, including blogs, whitepapers, infographics, biographies, website content, and other copy and design services.

The Words platform is backed by a team of experienced content writers based in Singapore and was developed to streamline the inefficiencies that traditionally lead to higher cost quotes for ad hoc projects. By cutting out numerous briefing meetings, follow-ups, quoting and invoicing, Words can offer top quality production at a competitive fee.

Words is extremely easy to use, and customers can select the product they require and pay online. This removes the hassle of long meetings, negotiations and payment terms, providing a seamless user experience.

To receive content, clients can follow a step-by-step process on the Words website, and can expect a turnaround of within 3-5 days, depending on the scope.

 


 

AMES logo 2016Leading strategists and brand experts are among the first speakers to be confirmed for the Asian Marketing Effectiveness & Strategy Conference & Awards (AMES).

10 speakers have been announced for the festival, which takes place on 31 May 2016 at Grand Hyatt Singapore, with more to be named in the coming weeks.

Delegates will hear from Erik Hermanson, Global Head of Marketing – Mobile, ASUS and Seton Vermaak, Head of Strategy at Razorfish Hong Kong as they share the success story of how ASUS evolved to be a global player in 2015. Using real-world cross-industry examples, Tom Voirol, VP Strategy at Critical Mass will define what it takes to become a digitally native brand while Natalie Gruis, Head of Strategy Planning at TBWA\Singapore will share her perspectives on the unique challenges for 21st century brands and how agencies can stay relevant.

Kristian Barnes, CEO of Vizeum APAC and Maunik Thacker, Senior Vice President - Marketing for Marina Bay Sands will jointly demonstrate how technology vulnerability can be turned into sustainable and competitive business processes to drive growth. Datalicious’s CEO and Founder, Christian Bartens, will make the case for data driven decision-making through an in-depth study of the disparity between channels marketers are investing in and the actual media consumption behavior of consumers. Stephen Tracy, Data & Insight Lead, SEA for SapientNitro will share his knowledge and expertise on building a successful analytics program through a “people-first” strategy.

Jane Lin-Baden, CEO of Isobar China Group and Kelvin Long, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Unionpay Smart will share learnings from a recent data partnership to establish how diversified data drives smart marketing.

 


 

Joseph-Morgans-PhotoJoseph Morgans, a seasoned retail and merchandising designer, has joined WPP’s shopper marketing agency Grey DPI as creative director. Based in Singapore, he is charged to lead and jazz up the creative outputs of the Creative team.

Relocated to Asia two years ago, Morgans was previously with the retail agency Open D Group in Singapore, where he was responsible for driving and maintaining the creative vision for the revamped SK-11 Global Retail Vision, which will be implemented throughout Asia in 2016.

A Welshman with a passion for brands, Joseph had worked in Paris for over 15 years, where he has gained extensive skincare retail design experiences for brands under P&G and L’Oreal Group. He has also worked in-house as an architect for Sephora, Dior perfume and Guerlain of LVMH Group, where he was responsible for the creation & development of flagship and new stores throughout Europe, Latin America & Asia.

On the agency side, Morgans has worked as a Senior Artist Director at Interbrand France. He was responsible for leading the creative concept development for Renault Automobile worldwide and has also worked for Malherbe Design, an award winning retail design agency.

Grey DPI is one of Greater China’s leading integrated shopper-marketing agencies whose total shopper marketing and design solutions include shopper-based design, retail space design, merchandising systems design, experiential and environmental designs.

Founded in 1996, DPI is headquartered in Hong Kong, with offices in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia. Key clients include Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Mead Johnson, The Dairy Farm, Kjeldsens, Mannings, Ferrero and Philips.

 


 

Nielsen announced it has completed its acquisition of Informate Mobile Intelligence, a leading provider of mobile usage measurement across key markets.

Nielsen and Informate Mobile Intelligence have been working together for nearly half a decade to leverage innovative smartphone metering technology to provide insights into evolving consumption patterns of mobile device users. During this time, the alliance was able to expand its client base across multiple sectors including media, telecom, e-commerce and fast moving consumer goods.

As the world leader in providing insights to understand consumer behavior and Total Audience measurement, the acquisition of Informate Mobile Intelligence will help Nielsen enhance its measurement portfolio in the mobile space in key markets across Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa. The acquisition's primary objective is to enable Nielsen's Total Audience measurement strategy in developing and international markets—measuring audiences where, when and how they consume content.

The Informate Mobile Intelligence measurement solution allows for the capture of accurate, in-depth usage data on mobile screens, including tablets and smartphones for both iOS and Android, through opt-in smartphone panels. These panels are already up and running in a number of international markets today. With the addition of Informate's solutions to Nielsen's portfolio, the company now provides a full suite of solutions in the mobile space. The integrated solution will calibrate and sharpen the profile of mobile audiences—a critical component for estimating the total smartphone viewing audience in any market. Furthermore, the integration enables Nielsen clients operating in this domain to measure and fine-tune the reach of their smartphone consumers.

 


 

Bloomberg announced two hires to the company’s growing Global Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) team. Pamela Hutchinson will lead the D&I effort in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Hayden Majajas will oversee the Asia-Pacific region.

PamelaHutchinson will join on March 14th in Bloomberg's London office. Since 2011, she has worked at Northern Trust as the company’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for EMEA and APAC. With more than 20 years of experience in managing diversity within the engineering and financial services sectors, she has worked at firms including Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs. In 2014, Hutchinson was awarded a spot on Timewise’s Power Part Time List. That same year, she was recognized by the Black British Business Awards as a Financial Services Leader Finalist. In 2013, the European Diversity Awards named her as an Inspirational Role Model of the Year Finalist.

HaydenMajajas joins Bloomberg's Singapore office today. A graduate of the Chuo University Graduate School of Law in Tokyo, Japan, Majajas brings experience from both the legal industry and the financial services sector. A 12-year veteran of the D&I space, he has been a D&I leader at Lehman Brothers, Nomura, and UBS. He most recently served as a D&I Director at BP. Majajas’ work has been recognized by various organizations globally including Best Private Bank – LGBT & Diversity Issues in 2012 by Asian Private Banker magazine; Champion for the Advancement of Women in 2013 by the South China Morning Post; Leadership in Diversity in 2014 by the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore; and most recently, the World of Difference Award in 2015 by the International Alliance for Women.

In their new roles, Hutchinson and Majajas will work in concert with Brown to help lead the company's global D&I initiative, and serve as thought partners and leaders on the strategy and vision for their respective regions.

 


 

mickVeritas Technologies announced that Mick Lopez is joining the leadership team as Chief Financial Officer. Lopez brings 30 years of global commercial experience with both public and private companies, most recently serving as CFO at Harris Corporation. He has lead corporate strategy, operations, and mergers and acquisitions for leading technology organizations including Aricent, Cisco and IBM.

Veritas also announced that George Haddad is joining the leadership team as Chief Human Resources Officer. Haddad comes from Concentrix Corporation and brings a wealth of experience and passion for building talent and leadership to Veritas. His experiences span all aspects of HR from talent acquisition, leadership development to building high performing cultures in transforming fast paced organizations to mergers and acquisitions, developed throughout a 30 year career at world class organizations including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Verisign.

cain mattWithin Veritas bench of talented leaders, two key appointments were also announced. Matt Cain takes on the newly created role of President, Worldwide Field Operations. In this position, he oversees all of Veritas sales, renewals, channels, sales operations, services, and support functions. Cain was most recently Chief Product Officer and has lead Veritas product innovations since he joined in 2012. Prior to that, Cain spent over a decade at Cisco Systems defining, building, and selling industry-leading product and integrated solutions. He also led a number of startup and high-growth teams, building new solutions and business models.

Ana-PinczukAt the same time, Ana Pinczuk has been promoted to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer. She joins the Veritas executive management team reporting to Bill Coleman, CEO, from her prior role as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Backup and Recovery Business Unit, Veritas' largest business. Prior to joining Veritas, she spent 15 years leading product and services organizations at Cisco.

Further, Mark Leslie, company founder, former chairman and CEO, joins Veritas as a board advisor. Leslie led the company to phenomenal global growth during his 11-year tenure. During his tenure as CEO, Veritas grew from 12 employees to 5,500 employees, with annual sales of $1.5 billion per year. Leslie is a successful entrepreneur and a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he teaches courses in entrepreneurship and sales organization. He currently serves on the board of Model N and a number of high tech private companies. Additionally, he serves on the board of Stanford Health Systems and the board of trustees of New York University.

 


 

Social and video advertising platform AdParlor by Adknowledge Asia has announced a series of top level hires across the APAC region. The new senior appointments will see Yui Duangporn Pronon lead as Country Director for Thailand, with Sally Ng as Country Director for both Hong Kong and Taiwan, while Reuben Vijay has joined as Country Director for Malaysia.

Yui-DuangpornThe three directors will be responsible for growing business in their respective regions, promoting AdParlor products and services, and ensuring clients are enhancing their social media and digital video campaign performances.

With 18 years of experience, Yui Duangporn Pronon is perfectly poised to lead AdParlor’s expansion in Thailand’s rapidly growing digital advertising market. Previously, Yui worked at dtac, a subsidiary of Telenor, where she led the mobile advertising team’s operations across Thailand.

Sally rightSally Ng has over 15 years of experience in Marketing, Advertising Media and Sales, spanning from digital media technology to marketing analytics and insights. Her appointment as Country Director for Hong Kong and Taiwan follows a previous role as Country Manager for Sizmek in Hong Kong and Taiwan, therefore bringing invaluable insight and knowledge of the local markets.

Rueben leftReuben Vijay has joined AdParlor from Yahoo, where he led the establishment of their Malaysia office, and was appointed to lead their operations to expand into the emerging Southeast Asia market.

AdParlor APAC partners with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and runs on YouTube to optimize ad campaigns through a single integrated platform. The one-stop-shop for the four largest social platforms helps brands and agencies spend less time managing campaigns and more time evaluating real results.

 


 

chrisAccedo, the global market leader in TV application solutions, announced that it has continued its rapid global expansion by opening an office in Singapore and appointing Chris Hampartsoumian as Technical Director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

Accedo, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, has announced the addition of the Singapore office as a strategic step in further strengthening its global position and to provide local support for APAC customers including Telstra, PCCW, Telstra, MediaCorp, SBS and LightBox. Accedo’s award-winning range of products and solutions have been deployed with numerous customers in the region.

Chris Hampartsoumian brings a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise to Accedo, having previously worked in similar roles for ioko, Irdeto, and Amazon.

 


 

Ben GraceHavas Media announced the appointment of Ben Grace in the newly created role of Chief Technology Officer. As CTO, Ben will oversee product management and digital marketing strategy for Havas Media.

Ben brings 15 years of experience in media and digital to his new role at Havas Media, where he will provide research and development direction as well as evaluating market trends, competitor strategies and future opportunities. He will be responsible for managing Havas Media’s market-leading suite of products.

Ben's experience spans a number of senior roles in companies including Accuen, OMD and DGM. He most recently worked as General Manager of Video at Accuen in the US, where he was tasked to build and run a new organization to help accommodate the shift of television dollars online. There, he worked on the first programmatic upfront deal securing the largest ever digital dollar allocation to a single entity in upfront history.

The announcement comes as Havas Media continues to grow in Australia, continuing to expand its business portfolio in just two short years since launching into the local market at the end of 2013. Havas Media is now in its third year of operation in Australia, and has rapidly expanded to a team of 55 working across a number of leading brands including QBE Insurance, Emirates, LG Electronics and Jacobs Douwe Egberts media accounts.

 


 

Havas-OrtegaHavas Ortega in Manila continues to grow this year, therefore Rudy Villar has been appointed General Manager of Havas Sports & Entertainment (HS&E).

HS&E aims to create meaningful relationships with brands and people through their passions using creativity, media, and technology. Their trademark battlecry of “Fans. Passions. Brands.” epitomizes their mission. Whether it is sponsorships, content creation, partnerships, social media, live brand experiences, bespoke or off the shelf, they pioneer engagement solutions to ensure ongoing conversations with brands’ current and future fans.

Villar is the consummate marketing veteran, with experience on all sides of the marketing cube, making him the perfect fit for HS&E. He started his advertising career in Image Dimensions and later moved on to McCann-Erickson Philippines as Account Manager for the San Miguel Beer Group. He was then promoted to Business Director of Momentum, an affiliate of McCann and a brand he pioneered as one of the first true brand engagement companies in the Philippines. Retail came calling in 2005 and he moved to SM Department Store as their AVP for Marketing where he launched more than a dozen in-house brands and handled the marketing needs of its retail affiliates at the same time.  Later, he became the Senior AVP and Chief Branding Officer of SM Investments Corporation where he led a major strategic re-brand of the SM Group.  In 2011, he moved to SM Development Corporation as the Senior AVP for Marketing. While there, he helped grow the international business, establishing SMDC’s presence in Europe, the Americas, and Asia through a mix of ATL media and on-ground brand engagement campaigns and roadshows. He was most recently with KidZania Manila as their Head of Sales and Minister of Tourism. He is also an active member of the industry, having been on the boards of the Ad Standards Council (ASC) and the Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA).

Villar will lead Havas Sports & Entertainment in offering complete brand engagement services.

He envisions HS&E to not just be another run-of-the-mill activation agency, rather sees unlimited possibilities in the realm of brand engagement. He will also be the Business Development Director of Havas Ortega and drive the integrated communications solutions agenda for the group.