Swapna_Nayak1AIPG Mediabrands, the media innovation unit of Interpublic Group, controlling a $36 billion global media buying portfolio, has appointed Swapna Nayak as the Regional Communications Planning Director, focusing on integrated strategy, innovation, content and owned asset development for Mediabrands’ global clients across Asia Pacific.

Working closely with regional strategy, research and analytics teams as well as Mediabrands’ digital disciplines, Swapna will play a vital role in translating data into consumers’ insights and delivering results driven creative communications plans for key clients.

A passionate ‘people’ person who has worked in the industry for the past 16 years across creative, media agencies as well as brand teams, Swapna has had extensive experience with leading marketers such as P&G, Unilever and Colgate.

Prior to joining Mediabrands, Swapna was Regional Strategy Director for Southeast Asia at Havas Media Group where she handled clients such as Hyundai/KIA, Abbott, Reckitt Benkiser and DBS Bank. She has also worked with Starcom Media Vest, Ogilvy & Mather, and Zee Films in myriad capacities managing marketing, brand strategy, insights and client leadership roles.

Swapna will support the core brands of UM and Initiative.


Jasmin-Sohrabji1Omnicom Media Group (OMG) appoints Jasmin Sohrabji as CEO, SEA and India, in an effort to sharpen focus on the continued growth of the Asia Pacific region.

OMG has introduced a new sub-regional structure effective, June 3rd, thus, two sub-regional assignments covering South East Asia and Greater China are being added, in addition to Australia and New Zealand.

Jasmin Sohrabji will continue to lead Omnicom Media Group, India, as CEO, and also take on the task of leading the South East Asian markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand for OMD, PHD and M2M – brands of Omnicom Media Group.

Sohrabji joined Omnicom Media Group in 2007 with the mandate of setting up OMD’s India operations, which has metamorphosed to one of India's fastest growing media agency today, with an impressive roster of clients.

With more than two decades in the industry, she has collected multiple accolades and distinctions, including recognition as "Agency Innovator 2009" (The Internationalist, UK), “Agency Head of the Year” (Media Magazine, Asia) and "Woman Achiever of the Year- Advertising" (GR8 Magazine, India).

Under the sub-regional structure, Doug Pearce, CEO of OMG China, will add Greater China responsibilities overseeing Hong Kong and Taiwan, while Leigh Terry will continue to lead OMG’s operation in Australia and New Zealand. Jasmin Sohrabji along with Doug Pearce and Leigh Terry will report to Cheuk Chiang.

OMD and PHD leadership in the region will continue in the same structure as today, with Steve Blakeman responsible for OMD and newly appointed CEO, Susana Tsui responsible for PHD. Barry Cupples will move on take the position of CEO, Global Investment and Accountability, a new role at an Omnicom Media Group Executive Board level.


Organised by the Institute of Advertising Singapore (IAS), APPIES 2013 will be held on 15 and 16 August at the National University of Singapore, continuing to showcase the best ideas from various industries that span highly-diverse markets in Asia Pacific.

The 100 selected marketing campaigns showcased will cover a broad range of six product/service categories that include Consumer Durables, Consumer Services, Food and Beverage, Non-Food FMCG, Business Services and Government, Cultural, Social and Environmental campaigns.

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APPIES 2013 will build on the success of last year’s event, which saw an impressive turnout of the region’s top marketers and stellar campaigns, awarding 10 Gold Medals and 5 Silver Medals to the top marketing campaigns as judged by a distinguished panel, as well as hand out 5 awards to the top presenters.

Now in its fourth year, the APPIES is distinctive thanks to its unique USP - a LIVE 4-6-10 campaign presentation format. Each presentation begins with a 4-minute show reel video summarising the campaign, followed by a live 6-minute exposition of the campaign’s key highlights by the brand’s marketers/campaign creators. Then comes the interactive 10-minute session where each campaign will be cross-examined by the judges and audience members.

Rohit Jawa, Senior Vice President – Global Marketing Operations, Unilever has been announced as Chief Judge as well as the Advisory Council:

• Alvin Neo: Chief Marketing Officer, Parkway Health International;

• Charmaine Wong-Han: Chief Marketing Officer, Pizza Hut Dine In, Asia Franchise YUM! Restaurant International ;

• Johan Buse: Vice President, Consumer Marketing, SingTel;

• Rene De Monchy: Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific Breweries;

• Rohini Miglani: Director - Brand Building Integrated Communication, P&G Asia


SusanaTsui1Media and communications agency PHD has appointed Susana Tsui as Chief Executive for its Asia Pacific operations. Tsui will replace Cheuk Chiang, who will assume the post of CEO, Omnicom Media Group, APAC from June 3rd.

In her new role, Tsui will lead all PHD markets in the Asia Pacific region, drive growth and enhance PHD‟s value-proposition.

Tsui joins PHD from OgilvyOne, where she was the Regional VP, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, new business models, digital and emerging markets. Before moving to OgilvyOne, Tsui was the Regional President of Neo@Ogilvy and is credited with building Neo@Ogilvy from a startup to a 300+ strong network of digital media / search specialists across Asia. Prior to Ogilvy, Tsui has held senior management positions at XM, Modem Media and Engage Asia.

Susana Tsui will commence her role at PHD on August 5th 2013, reporting to Cheuk Chiang, the newly appointed CEO of Omnicom Media Group, Asia Pacific. She will be based at PHD‟s regional headquarters in Singapore.

Former OMG APAC CEO, Barry Cupples will be relocating to the United Kingdom to take up the newly created Global CEO position, focusing on Omnicom Media Group‟s trading investment and accountability function.


Elisa_Chua__OMD_1OMD Singapore has promoted Elisa Chua to Business Director with immediate effect. Elisa is now a part of the senior management team at OMD Singapore and her expanded remit in the senior leadership role includes growing OMD Singapore’s business, team and enhancing its culture.

Formerly, a media director, working on the accounts of Health Promotion Board, Base Entertainment, Carlsberg, to name a few, Elisa is credited with facilitating recent new business wins like Workforce Development Agency and SilkAir, and shortlists at industry award platforms like the SMAs. Prior to OMD, Elisa was working with MEC as Media Director.

Elisa started her career with Omnicom Media Group, having worked with OMD in 2000 and PHD in 2003 and rejoining OMD in 2011. She will report to Chloe Neo.


sudipta1SAS Singapore announces that Mr. Sudipta Sen, Regional Director of Southeast Asia and Chief Executive Officer of SAS Institute India, will assume leadership for the Singapore market.

In his newly expanded role, Mr. Sen will lead SAS’ business in Singapore, adding to his current portfolio, which includes India and Thailand.

He will be responsible for setting the company’s strategic direction in all three markets, leading its growth as a trusted provider of business analytics and business intelligence solutions and supporting SAS’ valued partners in Southeast Asia.

Mr. Sen joined SAS Institute in India in 2004 as Managing Director. Under his leadership, SAS India has registered consistent growth. In his more than 30 years of experience in the technology sector, Mr. Sen has held senior executive positions in several globally-renowned companies, including TATA, IBM and Fujitsu ICIM. Prior to joining SAS, he was previously the managing director of Comsat Max Limited.

Mr. Sen will succeed Bill Lee, former Country Manager of SAS Singapore, until a new country lead is appointed. In his nine-year tenure with SAS Singapore, Mr. Lee has made valuable contributions to growing the business across both public and private sectors. Mr. Lee also actively worked with the Singapore government and tertiary education institutions to develop business analytics curricula to groom new talent within the local workforce in line with the country’s vision of becoming a knowledge-based economy.


Dominic_Laval_1Capablue, specialists in TV Everywhere and connected TV solutions, has appointed ex-emuse Director Dominic Laval as Director, Business Development and Operations. In his role, Dominic will lead and manage the business operations. He will focus on developing the business through building and implementing strategic development plans.

 

Laval has over 10 years’ experience working with TV operators and broadcasters, having worked in a broad range of technology, media and telecoms markets. He started his career with ST Microelectronics, before heading Business Development at Sony. Prior to emuse, Dominic was COO and part of the management team behind GoInteractTV.


Nishant_Mehta1Nishant Mehta has been appointed as Communications Planning Director for Omnicom Media Group, Malaysia. Mehta will play a pivotal role in enhancing Omnicom Media Group’s strategic planning capabilities, resulting in lasting and meaningful brand experiences for the concerned audiences.

Mehta joins Omnicom Media Group from Leo Burnett, where he was the agency lead on Proton. With 18 years of experience, Mehta has worked for agencies like Ogilvy, DDB and Lowe, broadcast networks like Sony, AXN, Zee Television and done an interesting stint with an independent record label in the highly competitive Indian music Industry. He will report to Andreas Vogiatzakis, CEO of Omnicom Media Group, Malaysia and his appointment is effective immediately.


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Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has appointed Mark Halliday to lead the group’s mobile marketing brand Airwave in the Asia Pacific region.

 

Mark joins Airwave’s regional hub in Singapore from Manning Gottlieb, OMD in the UK. As Head of Airwave, Halliday will drive the company’s growth and profitability and lead mobile planning and strategy within Omnicom Media Group’s APAC client roster.


The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) announce the appointment of Mr Steve Leonard as executive Deputy Chairman and Ms Jacqueline Poh as Managing Director of IDA Singapore. They will officially assume their new appointments on 10 June 2013. The current IDA CEO, Mr Ronnie Tay, will return to the Administrative Service for another posting in the Public Service.

Steve_Leonard1Mr Steve Leonard, an industry veteran with more than 28 years of international experience working in global technology firms, will have executive leadership responsibility for IDA as the new Deputy Chairman. He will focus primarily on industry promotion and development. This includes strategic planning and development of manpower for the infocomm sector, infrastructure development, spearheading the transformation of innovative start-ups and local enterprises, and overseeing various national cross-sectoral programmes. Mr Leonard, who has been serving on the IDA Board of Directors since 2009, was President of EMC Asia Pacific and Japan for more than six years, and previously served as the senior leader for Symantec software in Asia. He was also a senior executive of EDS Corporation in both Asia and Europe.

To assist the Deputy Chairman, IDA will also be appointing a Managing Director who will lead IDA’s policy and regulatory functions, including developing infocomm policy, telecoms regulation and information security, as well as guide the strategic Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) function.

Jaqueline_Poh1Ms Jacqueline Poh will be seconded from the Administrative Service to take up the new position at IDA. Ms Poh was previously the Divisional Director, Workplace Policy and Strategy Division, Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Prior to MOM, Ms Poh served in other ministries including the Ministry of Finance where she oversaw issues relating to social and security, and taxation related matters. She is also a board member of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and Singapore Pools. Ms Poh graduated from Oxford University with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1997. She also obtained a Masters degree in International Relations from Cambridge University in 1998 and a Masters of Business Administration from INSEAD in 2008.

Mr Tay has helmed IDA since November 2007 and under his leadership, Singapore has successfully deployed the Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network to 95% of homes as well as businesses, with more than 250,000 fibre broadband subscribers. For the infocomm industry, the S$46 million Infocomm Industry Productivity Roadmap was launched in 2011 to push for productivity in the ICT sector, benefitting more than 70 companies and 6,700 infocomm professionals to date. Similarly, through the Infocomm@SME programme, more than 5,000 SMEs have benefitted from the iSprint grant scheme to use infocomm to enhance business productivity. In addition, various sectoral transformation programmes for education, healthcare, finance, logistics and transport were implemented, and the eGov2015 masterplan was launched in 2011.

During Mr Tay’s tenure, IDA worked with the Ministry of Communications and Information to introduce the Personal Data Protection Act. IDA also worked to review the spectrum allocation frameworks for mobile broadband services such as that for 4G, and introduced various consumer protection measures such as enhancing 3G Quality of Service standards. New initiatives such as the Smart Cities Pilots & Trials Programme and New Ways of Work which included the setting up of Smart Work Centres have been introduced. Leveraging on emerging technologies and trends such as business analytics and Big Data, IDA also encouraged the development of innovative services through CFCs for mobile positioning and analytics services, and harnessing data for value creation.


IceWarp will become the first corporate messaging platform to offer Dropbox integration. The upcoming version of IceWarp’s award-winning server will allow users to upload files from this popular application by clicking the Dropbox icon in the new web client - currently in the release candidate phase. Depending on security requirements, IceWarp customers will be able to select large files management options: SmartAttach, Dropbox, or the combination of both.

Dropbox compatibility extends new document management functions to be included in the IceWarp Messaging Server’s upcoming version. Those tested recently allow organizations to edit and collectively review an array of documents directly from webmail, eliminating the need to adopt pricey platform with an array of rarely used functions.

A rare exception in the messaging space, IceWarp’s architecture is based on universal standards, doesn’t depend on any client and supports all mobile devices currently on the market.

IceWarp Messaging Server is IceWarp’s flagship product - a highly integrated solution that includes Mail Server with dual Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus protection. The product also has add-on options such as the IceWarp GroupWare Server, Instant Messaging Server, Text Messaging Server, a unified WebClient interface, full mobile device synchronization and much more.

The company is also offering other products built on its proven core platform. One is LiveWebAssist, a multilingual business chat that allows companies to better monetize website traffic by interacting live with website visitors, from any location, through any device – desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet. The other is eVisitCare - the doctor-patient secure email communications system.


OpenNet’s FibreXchange website contest sheds light on efficient and innovative user experiences

OpenNetOpenNet’s FibreXchange website contest sheds light on efficient and innovative user experiences OpenNet announced the winners of their “Tell Us Why You Love Fibre” contest in Singapore. Mr Mark Blake, CEO, OpenNet presented the prizes to all three winners. Conducted through OpenNet’s FibreXchange portal, the online contest invited current fibre broadband users to share why they love their fibre connection and how it has brought about changes in their daily lives. The contest entries received offer a peek into the reality of fibre-enhanced entertainment, e-learning and work from home experiences.

“Our FibreXchange initiative is geared towards educating new users on the tremendous benefits that fibre broadband currently brings to households across Singapore. From this online contest, we see that Singaporeans are really taking advantage of the improved experience that fibre broadband provides. We have people talking about more efficient work-from-home experiences that promote work-life balance and a more enriching home learning and entertainment environment. The stories that users share with us provide an exciting glimpse of Singapore’s steady transformation into an efficient and innovative global city,” said Mr Daniel Ho, Director, Business Development and Communications, OpenNet.

The online contest reaffirms OpenNet’s Fibre Index Study that Singaporeans are now more receptive to fibre broadband and are beginning to see the various benefits of having a fibre broadband connection.