Sony Wong

Sony Wong has been appointed Managing Director for PHD Singapore. Sony will be responsible for driving PHD’s leadership position and growth in Singapore. He commences his role in July 2011 and will report to Torie Henderson.

Sony joins PHD from Hawley and Hazel where he has been Singapore Country Manager. He has held a variety of senior positions spanning blue-chip brands and media agencies in a career of over twenty years. Sony led Carat Singapore, where he played a key role in expanding the new business footprint before moving to Maxus as Managing Director for Singapore. Sony was later promoted to Managing Director of Mindshare in Singapore, where he led his team in winning several major business pitches and industry awards. Earlier in his career as a marketer, Sony helped FMCG conglomerates such as Asia Pacific Breweries and Unilever, to launch new products, expand market share and develop innovative communication campaigns.


Mediabrands announced two appointments that substantially strengthen the agency’s digital expertise in Asia Pacific:

Nick Tulloch, Regional Digital Manager, Mediabrands Asia Pacific

Nick is responsible for delivering high value digital services to regional clients and he will play an important role in leading and developing client relationships. Further, Nick’s wealth of experience in digital display and search will help Mediabrands’ clients to devise creative, innovative solutions that maximize ROI and improve business performance.

Previously, Nick was Digital Account Manager at Initiative UK, where he was responsible for managing the pan-European digital campaign for one of the world’s largest rental car companies. Prior to Initiative, Nick was Senior Digital Planner and Buyer at OMD in London, where he oversaw planning and buying for the Post Office’s online advertising campaigns. Nick began his communications career at Manning Gottlieb OMD. In his new role, Nick reports to Arun Kumar, Head of Digital, Mediabrands Asia Pacific.

Mike Zeng

Mike Zeng, Digital Head, UM China

Mike’s appointment as Digital Head of UM China reflects the fact that UM is focused on the development and expansion of UM’s digital offering in the region. UM has made several strategic investments that have extended existing digital partnerships as well as imported relevant, effective technology that differentiates UM from the competition.

Mike will be responsible for leveraging the power of digital for clients and will work closely with UM’s local team in China, as well as Arun Kumar, Head of Digital, Mediabrands Asia Pacific.

Previously, Mike was Business Director and Media Head at Tribal DDB Shanghai, where he managed a team of 15 that was responsible for overseeing integrated digital services for clients such as VW China, McDonald’s and Acer. He is reporting directly to Simon Woodward, CEO, UM China.


Steve Blakeman

OMD announced the appointment of Steve Blakeman as Chief Executive Officer, for the Asia Pacific region. Steve will lead OMD operations, drive existing client satisfaction as well as drive growth and enhance OMD’s value-proposition across the region.

Blakeman began his career at JWT and has over two decades of experience in advertising, media and marketing communications. He joins OMD from IPG, where he occupied the position of Chief Integration Strategy Officer, Asia Pacific, dividing his time between Universal McCann, Initiative and McCann Erickson on global clients such as Coca- Cola, Johnson & Johnson and MasterCcard. Blakeman has established a reputation for innovation and thought leadership by developing creative channel planning solutions and data driven analysis to deliver tangible business benefit to clients.

Prior to IPG, Steve worked as Managing Partner at Omnicom Media Group owned media agency, PHD where he successfully launched their second office in the UK.

Steve Blakeman He will commence his role at OMD at some point in the third quarter of 2011, reporting to Barry Cupples, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, Asia Pacific.


Daniel Simon

The Mediabrands promoted Daniel Simon to Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Asia at UM and Initiative. Daniel will be responsible for maintaining each company’s independence, driving operational synergies as well as managing day-to-day challenges throughout G14 and World Markets in Asia.

Daniel joined UM in September 2006, as CFO of UM, Asia Pacific. In 2008, he was appointed CFO of Mediabrands, Asia Pacific and in March 2010, he was named a Member of the Board at Mediabrands, Asia Pacific, which saw him involved in Asia’s management while still CFO.

Before joining Mediabrands, Daniel worked for Saatchi & Saatchi as CFO of its Asia Pacific operations.

Daniel has nearly 20 years of experience both in advertising and the Asia Pacific region and graduated from Tthe Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.


Todd Handcock

Equinix, Inc., a provider of global data center services, announced that Todd Handcock has been named chief marketing officer and vice president of marketing and strategy for Asia Pacific. Handcock joins Equinix from British Telecom (BT) where he was most recently vice president of Asia Pacific Business Transformation, accountable for leading BT’s major investment and expansion program in the region. Handcock will lead Equinix’s strategic planning and execution of the product and marketing roadmap in Asia Pacific.

Prior to joining BT, Handcock was Asia Pacific vice Vice president President at Descartes Systems Group and general manager of Global Alliances and Accounts with Maves International Software. Handcock also held senior management positions at Ometraco Group and Cott Corporation. He began his career in Asia at the Canadian Embassy in Indonesia.

Handcock holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Calgary and a post-graduate diploma in Asia Pacific Management from the McRae Institute of International Management at Capilano College in Vancouver.


MOL Global , the parent company of MOL AccessPortal Sdn. Berhad and Friendster, Inc., appointed Internet industry veteran and former Naspers/MIH executive Craig White as President of Global Operations. He will be based in Singapore.

White has been responsible for several of the Naspers’ invested Internet and media companies including BuzzCity, ibibo, Lelong.com.my, Multiply, among others, and has more than 20 years of global leadership experience in the Internet and technology sectors.

Prior to joining Naspers in Singapore, he was based in Thailand and was the president for M-Web Thailand/Sanook Online and the managing director for Thailand’s KSC Commercial Internet.


Last month Mediabrands announced the appointment of Steven Wang as Director of Application Development, Asia Pacific. Based in Guangzhou, Steven leads Mediabrands’ China Development Centre where the company already has a significant investment in software development resources. Steven is responsible for providing overall strategic direction & and delivery for software development in Asia Pacific and he reports directly to Dene Schonknecht, CIO, Mediabrands Asia Pacific.

Steven joins the Mediabrands team from TAL Group, Shanghai, where he served as Department Manager of the firm’s Software Development Center. In this role, Steven managed the development and maintenance of TAL’s proprietary applications. Prior to TAL, Steven worked for Jointech Software in Shenzhen and Yinhoo Software in Xiamen. He also worked for several technology companies in Canada, including SUMmedia, Correlation Technologies and GM Solutions.


Yahoo! Inc. announced the acquisition of IntoNow. Launched in January 2011, IntoNow has built a platform and companion TV application based on real time indexing of television that deepens the connections between audiences, television content and advertisers. IntoNow has indexed more than five years of US based television programming, creating a rich database to build video discovery and programming experiences. IntoNow is able to identify content down to the airing, episode and time within the program as well as provide program information and links associated with it, all within a matter of seconds, enabling Yahoo! to provide enhanced media experiences and video programming, bolstering its social engagement across the Yahoo! network and on all screens.

IntoNow users are able tocan easily engage with friends around the shows they enjoy most and help people discover new shows, discuss favorites with friends and learn more about them, and as well as providinges recommendations for what is currently airing based on their interests and those they are connected to. The application is also integrated with Facebook, Twitter, iTunes and Netflix to enable more sharing and information gathering

"IntoNow has built a unique way for people to engage with each other around the content they enjoy," said Adam Cahan, CEO of IntoNow. "Companion applications and devices are changing the way we interact with TV in significant ways. The IntoNow team is excited to be joining Yahoo! to help create new consumer experiences and to be part of Yahoo!'s global scale and reach."


iris, an independent, global creative agency that delivers marketing campaigns for their clients, announced the global launch of its new bespoke social media content division Urgent Genius. It will act as a creative hub producing fast and effective online content in response to topical issues and trends for clients such as Sony Ericsson and adidas. Content will be produced in hours and days – the speed required to make a maximum impact in real-time – rather than weeks and months, the time length of typical client/agency approval processes. Urgent Genius is based on the belief that this is the only way marketers can embrace the current need for timely, clever content and stay relevant to today’s consumers.

www.urgentgenius.com will go live this week. It will feature examples of Urgent Genius from around the world, as well as content ranked using iris’ unique Urgent Genius Index, which calculates true influence online based on the underlying principles of Urgent Genius.

The structure of the new department will see briefs enter from all areas of iris’ integrated disciplines, which include iris’ digital, experiential and PR arms. The effectiveness of content will be measured by the Urgent Genius Index and a bespoke performance-related pay model.

Urgent Genius will encompass big ideas as well as smaller tactical pieces, the development of integrated and standalone social media strategies, campaign seeding, consumer feedback management and online reputation monitoring.

iris will also create its own unbranded pieces of content based on topical inspired and real-time ideas.