HAVAS_MEDIA_INDIA_rgbHavas Media India has strengthened its digital operations with two key senior appointments.

Sumit Kumar has been appointed General Manager of Mobext India to further establish the brand in India while S.V. Sunilkumar joins as Business Head Digital – Mumbai at Havas Media. His key responsibility will be to service the existing digital clientele in Mumbai as well as support new business development.

Sumit-KumarSumit Kumar comes with eight years of leadership experience in business development, strategic partnerships, product management and corporate sales and was earlier leading the performance and app advertising business for InMobi India. Clients, he has worked with, include Tata DOCOMO, Vodafone, Sony Entertainment, Disney, OLX, Viacom 18, Tencent, AOL, Cleartip, Hungama, Nazara, Opera and Times Group.

Sunil_Kumar1Sunilkumar joins the agency with 18 years of media experience and was previously with Infosys where he worked as a Principal Consultant and was part of the core product development team at BrandEdge (the global cloud based digital marketing platform). He was also the digital media head at DDB Mudra,where he serviced clients including LIC, Star TV, McDonalds, IDBI Bank, India First Life Insurance, etc.

Havas Media is an integrated communications agency with digital at its core and one of the world’s fastest growing media groups, expanding from 10 markets in 1999 to 126 markets in 2012.

In India it delivers holistic media and marketing solutions across media platforms – Traditional, Digital, Mobile and Outdoor; suited to client requirement, by specialized professionals; leveraging the knowledge, systems and proprietary tools available within the network.

Havas Media Group includes Havas Sports & Entertainment and Arena. Together they draw from the expertise within the group, including Mobext for mobile solutions and Ecselis for performance marketing.

 

 

bite

Bite Singapore announces two senior executive hires.

Bite is driving towards greater growth in the Asia Pacific region, with two senior executive hires for its Singapore operations: Adrian Heng and Smitha Virik, general manager and director, respectively.

Adrian_HengAdrian, a seasoned senior communications and marketing counsellor with almost 20 years of branding and communications experience in Singapore and around Asia, has worked in both consultancy and in-house positions across different sectors. Previously at Hill & Knowlton, he led three different practices (Digital, Crisis & Risk Management and Technology) for Singapore. He was also the Southeast Asia Digital Lead. As general manager of Bite Singapore, Adrian will spearhead the agency’s growth in Singapore and provide both Singapore and regional clients with senior counsel and strategic insight. He will also further develop digital engagement models for clients, helping integrate communications for today's 360 degree consumer engagement.

smithaSmitha brings an extensive understanding of developing integrated marketing communications, media relations and social media campaigns. She has 9 years of experience across in-house and agency roles, having worked on FMCG, consumer lifestyle, technology, luxury, aviation, enterprise and corporate clients. Smitha leads the Singapore client servicing team in building and implementing creative and effective communications for consumer and enterprise clients. As a key client relationships leader, she will ensure superior counsel and service by the team, for clients in Singapore and in the region.

The appointments also come as James Park departs Bite Singapore to pursue new career directions. Over the past two years, James made significant contribution to the Singapore office as a key "hub of Asia" for client services and innovation.

Bite was recently named Mid-size Consultancy of the Year at Campaign Asia’s PRWeek Awards, and Asia-Pacific Technology Consultancy of the Year by communications industry authority, The Holmes Report.

John_wattsRockwell Automation, the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information, has announced John Watts’ appointment as its new Regional Marketing Director, Asia Pacific.

Based in Singapore, Watts is responsible for all regional marketing functions, including commercial marketing, commercial engineering, product business management, as well as sales operations and sales competency.

With 18 years of experience in automation and process control, Watts relocated from Melbourne, Australia to Singapore when he joined Rockwell Automation in 2006 as Business Manager, Process Solutions, Asia Pacific. Prior to his new role, Watts was Director, Integrated Architecture, Rockwell Automation, Singapore. Watts replaces Steven Goh, who has taken a global leadership role within Rockwell Automation’s Architecture and Software business, and will continue to be based in Singapore.

abacusAbacus International, Asia Pacific’s leading provider of travel services and solutions, announced a strategic partnership with the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), the global organisation pioneering educational and technological advances in business travel.

The two organisations, collaborating on initiatives to develop corporate travel in the Central Asian Republics are starting by co-hosting the third Abacus Corporate Travel Executive Forum in Almaty at the end of October 2013. The aim is to facilitate knowledge transfer between multi-national businesses developing commercial links with Kazakhstan, together with travel management companies and corporate travel agencies working with their Central Asian counterparts.

naudet1Séverin Naudet has been appointed Global Head of SOCIALYSE to steer the company's development and growth, which is a priority for the HAVAS Group.

SOCIALYSE is a global network of social media specialists working in over fifty countries that devise social strategies and plan integrated campaigns within the wider communications strategy, harnessing data through human understanding instead of chasing technology, and placing content and experience at the heart of all solutions. Enthusiastic teams help brands develop their activities, move into new growth markets and control their image and messages by supporting and structuring an ecosystem.

Séverin began his career with Virgin Music, where he worked with the biggest French and international artists, but left the giant to start his own publishing and music production company in Paris and New York, which he developed on the web.

In 2004, he became an advisor on the cultural industries and media within the French Ministry of Culture and Communication two years later he joined the founders of Dailymotion as Vice-President and Content Director with the role of making the popular video-sharing website a leader in France.

In May 2007, he began to advise the French Prime Minister on the Internet and multimedia issues. Working within the PM's office, he led the e-government and e-administration reforms for four years, reducing state websites from 700 to 60 and launching public consultations online on major domestic policies, such as the Environmental Roundtable, the conference on France's Overseas Departments and Territories, open data and open government.

HARTING: 25th Anniversary in Hong Kong and 15th Anniversary in China

hartingFounded in 1988, HARTING Hong Kong has been the Asian head quarter for 25 years to support all HARTING subsidiaries in Asia. In 1998 HARTING has entered the Chinese market by opening the production plant in Zhuhai and is proud to be the first global connector manufacturer in the China market awarded the China Compulsory Certification (CCC), having been mainly focused on the factory automation, transportation, renewable energy, power transmission and machinery markets.

The current Zhuhai manufacturing site, with an initial investment of more than 16 million USD, is the supply chain, logistics, training, research and development center for Asia.

tilginTilgin, a leading provider of solutions for multi-play and next-generation broadband, has signed an agreement with Global 4 for the delivery of Tilgin’s TR-069 Auto Configuration Server solution: tGem.

With tGem, Tilgin provides Global 4 with a comprehensive remote management platform for all Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) compliant with Broadband Forum's TR-069 standard. The full life-cycle of residential devices is addressed by tGem within a multi-vendor context, ranging from the initial activation, service upgrade, to proactive maintenance procedures and subscriber care.

Global 4 will use tGem to improve their deployment process in both pace and reliability as well as to maintain the high levels of satisfaction their customers are used to.

WorldPay and PayWizard team up to integrate payments for digital media services

World-payWorldPay, a global leader in payment processing, risk and alternative payments, and PayWizard, an industry leading platform that provides subscriber management and billing for multi-screen media, have announced their agreement to integrate WorldPay’s extensive payment processing capabilities with PayWizard’s leading subscriber management functionality.

PayWizard_logo-1The integration will provide merchants with improved customer services, enhanced payment flexibility and quicker time-to-market. PayWizard clients will gain access to Acquiring services from WorldPay as well as 200+ payment methods, ensuring that local payment preferences can be catered for. Similarly, WorldPay merchants operating in the digital media landscape will be able to use PayWizard subscriber management services to increase revenue and profit by understanding customer behaviour and preferences, and therefore helping to create better targeted marketing and promotional campaigns of higher value services.

According to PayWizard, 16.8 billion video-enabled devices are set to be in the global marketplace by 2015. In addition to this, 2013 is the year that the number of mobile devices will exceed the world’s total population with two thirds of the world’s data in video format by 2015, making this a rapidly growing market for merchants.

PayWizard’s system combines intelligent subscriber management technology with rich marketing functionalities and a powerful finance system. It enables merchants to maximise consumer relationships and drive revenues, resulting in increased profitability. The WorldPay Gateway allows merchants to maximise their transaction success with global reach across major payment schemes and worldwide currencies.

Integrating with WorldPay will allow multi-currency processing, enabling merchants to expand abroad, as well as gain access to improved security measures such as Visa Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode. Additionally, the relationship allows merchants to provide recurring transactions for subscriptions and the option for refunds, improving the customer experience at the payments page.

hootsuiteHootSuite, a social relationship platform for businesses and organizations that is designed to collaboratively execute campaigns across social networks, announced the appointment of Ken Mandel, as Managing Director for Asia Pacific (APAC).

The experienced sales and digital advertising leader is now responsible for HootSuite’s regional growth strategy and rapid expansion.

Ken_Mandel

Prior to joining HootSuite, Mandel was Managing Director, Salesforce Marketing Cloud for APAC, and before that he was Buddy Media’s first hire in the region, leading Buddy Media’s growth in the region until it was acquired by Salesforce.com in 2012.

Prior to that, Mandel was Yahoo’s Regional Vice President of APAC after having been CEO of APAC for Neo@Ogilvy, where he grew the digital marketplace foresights team in the region from a single person to over 200 employees in just 16 months. The same dynamic he showcased earlier at XM, where he developed one office with 18 staff into one of the region’s most awarded digital agencies with four offices and more than 110 employees.

HootSuite’s global expansion continued in Q3 with strong results in the APAC region and the company plans to aggressively ramp up its presence in the region, focusing with on Hong Kong, South East Asia, Japan, and Australia.

VIMNViacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a division of Viacom Inc., and Twitter announced an international partnership on Twitter Amplify, a program through which the companies will deliver social video advertising campaigns around the biggest programs and live events across VIMN’s platforms, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Channel and more.

The partnership will launch with the “2013 MTV EMA,” airing live across MTV channels around the world from Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome on Monday, 11 November at 2am (WIB), 3am (SIN/HK/PH), 4am (MAL). MTV will offer sponsorship opportunities around real-time highlights of the show’s most buzzworthy performances, unexpected moments, exclusive backstage interviews and more via its Twitter accounts with followers in more than 170 countries and territories worldwide.

VIMN’s shows and events consistently drive significant activity on Twitter. Outside the U.S., MTV has 10.8 million Twitter followers, and the “2012 MTV EMA” delivered record tweets during the show (5.7 million), up +104% vs. 2011. The show also drove 32 worldwide trending topics on Twitter, at times notching eight of the top 10 trending topics during the show’s premiere broadcast.

The “2012 MTV EMA” blew away the competition on Trendrr's social charts, ranking as the most social program of the night in the U.S. with more than 5.5 million mentions around the U.S. airing on MTV2 – nearly triple the most socially active audience during the 2012 U.S. election coverage.

In June 2013, MTV Japan worked with Twitter to launch Twitter Mirror at this year’s 12th annual MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ), making it the first music and entertainment platform to launch this social media technology for such large-scale events not only in Japan, but in Asia. “Twitter Mirror” gave fans exclusive live “backstage access” to the VMAJ, by enabling celebrities to snap photos backstage during the red carpet event and instantly post them online. Tweets were posted through MTV Japan’s official Twitter account, accompanied by the hashtags #VMAJ.

westinThe Westin Singapore, part of Westin Hotels & Resorts and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced the appointment of its new senior leadership team.

lanceThe team is led by Lance J. Ourednik, General Manager of The Westin Singapore. Charged with bringing The Westin back to Singapore after more than a decade, Lance will spearhead the operations, management of the hotel opening and work with his team to drive the post-launch initiatives as the hotel reestablishes itself in the market. With over 39 years of experience in the luxury hospitality industry, Lance has held several key appointments with Starwood Hotels in key cities such as Beijing, Guilin and Xiamen, and recently opened The Westin Mumbai Garden City recently.

 

sushil

Sushil Sharma, Hotel Manager, will assist Lance in the overall hotel operations. Previously from The Westin Mumbai Garden City, Sushil has also served various leadership roles within the hospitality industry across Europe, Asia and North America, including Director of Food & Beverage at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel, United States.

 

 

kellyKelly Ho, Director of Human Resources (HR), will lead the overall HR function, ensuring the recruitment and development of talent. Kelly brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience of more than 15 years in human resources within the hospitality industry. Kelly is new to Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and had previously led the HR team at Capella Singapore.

 

 

ZulkifleeZulkiflee Januar, Director of Food and Beverages (F&B), will play a vital role across The Westin Singapore's multiple F&B venues – including signature restaurant 'Seasonal Tastes' and gastro bar 'Cook & Brew'. The seasoned F&B professional will be responsible for ensuring the highest standards in the hotel banquet and catering services. Zulkiflee's strong experience in managing F&B operations for large-scale hotel chains – including The Westin Hefei, The Westin Shanghai and St Regis Singapore – ensures that brand quality assurance and cultural expectations are met.

 

zhengLouanne Zheng, Director of Sales and Marketing, will drive the conception and implementation of strategic campaigns. Besides exploring new business opportunities and enhancing relationships with business partners, Louanne will also play a crucial role in leading the sales teams of corporate, catering, MICE and leisure. As a hospitality sales veteran with over 17 years of experience, Louanne had held the post of Area Director of Sales and Marketing for Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Southern China, as well as key appointments at high-end hotel brands across Asia, including the Sheraton Shenzhen Futian Hotel.

 

Erna1Ernawati Setijo, Director of Marketing Communications, will lead the Marketing Communications team to strategize, execute and ensure the success of The Westin Singapore's marketing, communications and public relations initiatives. Ernawati was previously from Sheraton Towers Singapore, part of the Starwood group of hotels and most recently, she was the Director of Marketing Communications at Marina Mandarin Singapore.

 

 

svenSven Cepon, Executive Chef, will be responsible for leading the conceptualization and development of all menu selections, including Westin's signature SuperFoodsRX program. With an extensive experience working with varied cuisines, Sven's diverse experience will ensure that guests at The Westin Singapore enjoy a memorable journey of culinary delights. He joined Starwood in 2008 as Sous Chef at W Retreat & Spa in Maldives and then worked as the Executive Chef for Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa. The Westin Singapore is scheduled to open in November 2013. It is located from levels 32 to 46 in Asia Square Tower 2 on the vibrant Marina Bay, in the heart of Singapore's financial district.

 

Art_of_ClickArt of Click secures NRF investment, expands international team, and seeks to hire ambitious Singaporean talent

WandrilleArt of Click, which offers performance based mobile campaigns, announced to have received more than half a million dollars of seed capital funding through Wavemaker Labs and the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF). The company also confirms a slate of new executive appointments to develop its regional foothold. These appointments include: Wandrille Pruvot, ex Adsmobi and BuzzCity, as Chief Revenue Officer, Jens Bohnwager as Chief Technology Officer, Damien Velly, as Technical Senior Consultant, with the team set to further accelerate Art Of Click business growth and technology implementation.

JensArt of Click is now focused on hiring local talent in Singapore to strengthen the team andunderlines its commitment to the local market and digital media industry.

Art of Click provides a win-win solution for the customer by providing ROI-driven mobile advertising and enables advertisers to focus and optimize on the real marketing goals by allowing optimization of cost per lead, sales, registrations, downloads, in short - all metrics beyond the click.

Since its inception, Art of Click has become the leading source of mobile advertising and operates in key markets of: Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam with more than 4 billion monthly add impressions. The Art of Click Mobile MARKET PLACE allows operators and publishers to sell their inventory and advertisers to buy mobile traffic. There are more than 1,200 publishers spanning the region on the Art of Click Network. http://artofclick.com/

 

Najadi & Partners first Merchant Finance Advisory firm outside Russia to adopt .RU

Najadi_Branding_-_RGB_Profile_300dpiMr Pascal Najadi, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of AIAK Malaysia SDN BHD just announced that his firm adopted the global brand name Najadi & Partners, unveiling its new website www.najadi.ru in this context.

Najadi & Partners, being the first Merchant Finance Advisory firm outside of the Russian Federation to choose RU-CENTER as its registrar for www.najadi.ru, is now hosting its company website with Russia’s first ICANN-accredited registrar for international generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs).

Being well known in Russia and Eastern Europe for reliability and customer-friendly support, RU-CENTER was selected by Pascal Najadi as his web hosting service of choice, as he is convinced that the Russian company continuously evolves its services, providing an array of opportunities to clients, besides guaranteeing high quality and top secure services.

“We like to build on freedom of data and privacy, key factors for a freedom of choice and world peace.” Najadi said, adding “We Go .RU, we set the trend.”

Founded in 2000 by the Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN), RU-CENTER is Russia’s leading Internet company, offering a full suite of services related to domain name registration as well as web hosting and personal domain emails.

Furthermore, Najadi & Partners LLP has recently been established in Moscow, The Russian Federation, by Pascal Najadi and business partner Mr. Andrey Rudeshko, General Director.