Aaron_Wild1PHD China announced the promotion of key members of the senior management team. Effective immediately, Aaron Wild has been promoted to Managing Director, PHD Shanghai, while Lars Bjørge has been promoted to Head of Digital Strategy, PHD China. Aaron and Lars held the positions of General Manager (Shanghai) and Digital Strategy Director, respectively.

Aaron has over 20 years’ experience in the media industry, working across markets like Australia, China and the Middle East. He joined PHD in 2010, following PHD China’s Unilever win, and has been instrumental in PHD being reappointed by Unilever, recently. Under Aaron's leadership, his team have won numerous industry awards and also been awarded with internal Unilever awards for their best global campaign. Aaron's promotion to Managing Director will see him continue to lead the Unilever business, and being further involved with the overall development of PHD's culture, product and business.

Lars_Bjorge2Lars has held a number of senior positions at Omnicom agencies in Norway, including Proximity BBDO and Tribal DDB where he led the Norwegian operation, before joining PHD in 2011. In his new role, the established digital leader and marketer will champion PHD’s digital product and deliver best-in-class initiatives by driving the best use of insights, strategy, business knowledge and digital prowess.

Both Aaron Wild and Lars Bjørge will report to Mark Heap, CEO, PHD China, who said: “PHD’s pursuit to be the best in the industry is fuelled by excellence in service delivery, powerful ideas, and, talent is what makes it possible. Both Aaron and Lars have been stellar performers and played transformative roles, since they joined PHD. The promotions are well-deserved.”

 


Rangu-Salgame-2Tata Communications announced the appointment of Rangu Salgame as the Chief Executive Officer of Growth Ventures. Rangu joins Tata Communications’ Global Management Council and will lead the company’s global high growth businesses with an initial portfolio that includes data centre, cloud, cyber security, media and entertainment.

Rangu is a global business leader with operating experience in over 30 countries, having partnered with business and government leaders across diverse cultural environments, in developed as well as emerging markets. He has been a transformative growth leader throughout his career and has made market changing impacts at companies such as Cisco Systems, Verizon Communications and PwC.

At Cisco he architected and executed a bold strategy that transformed Cisco’s business in India and other emerging markets, with a significant market share gain and accelerated revenue growth. At Verizon he led the founding and growth of Verizon’s internet and data business into a global leader of business communications provider.


MarkUM has announced that Mark Bowling will join the company as Client Managing Partner (CMP), Asia. Bowling brings to UM over 17 years of business planning, advertising and marketing experience, most notably leading communications strategy for blue chip clients like, Unilever, Diageo and Kraft.

A UK citizen, Bowling has lived on three continents throughout his career, initially moving to Singapore in 2004 and returning after 2 years in New York in 2010. Bowling joins UM from Starcom MediaVest Group, where for the past five years he has lead global communications strategy for Samsung Electronics across 90+ markets, in the role of Global Director, Human Experience Strategy SVP.

In the newly appointed role, Bowling will be responsible for quality of product and quality of relationship with the clients and will work in close collaboration with the regional team and the global managing partners overseeing UM global clients worldwide. He will report to Kristi Argyilan, Chief Transformation Officer, UM Global, where he will be responsible for partnering with global clients within Asia Pacific, such as Johnson and Johnson and Exxon. Bowling will be based out of Singapore.


Adriana3Weber Shandwick has strengthened its regional digital expertise with the appointment of Adriana Gascoigne as vice president, digital, Asia Pacific based in Singapore.

She will lead the firm’s digital experts in Singapore and will be responsible for driving integration of digital techniques, tactics and strategies with traditional communications approaches for major regional account work spanning the Asia Pacific region. Her role will serve to strengthen Weber Shandwicks digital communications portfolio within existing client accounts and new business opportunities.

Gascoigne will also support the integration of the Studio – an in-house facility which provides digital video and content production services – with regional account work and support the running of Firebell, a proprietary Weber Shandwick online crisis simulation training tool that has been widely applied by clients in the region.

Gascoigne will report directly to Co-Managing Directors Margaret Cunico and Vanessa Ho Nikolovski and will also have a reporting line to Asia Pacific head of digital Jon Wade.

Adriana is the founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, a non-profit organization which she launched in San Francisco in 2007 and has since grown to 25 active chapters around the world. The Singapore chapter was launched when she moved to Singapore last year as head of business development at Impulse Flyer, a members-only portal featuring luxury and boutique hotels in the Asia Pacific region.

Previous positions, including in Silicon Valley, were in hi5, SocialGamingNetwork (SGN), SocialGold, GUBA as well as digital roles in international public relations agencies in the US. She was also an “Intel Insider,” serving as a brand and product advisor for Intel and is an advisor to a variety of start-ups.


IPG Mediabrands has announced the launch of Mediabrands Global Technology Solutions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Global Technology Solutions (GTS) is a new company within IPG Mediabrands focused on providing flexible and cost efficient technology services to IPG business units across the world. GTS has invested in resources specific to digital marketing intelligence solutions that require software development and data management services. With an outlook to grow its operations, the company is currently servicing IPG businesses in New York, San Francisco and Copenhagen.

The launch also coincides with IPG Mediabrands heightened presence in Asia with the global move to group Reprise Media, Cadreon, Ansible Mobile and Spring Creek Group under the Mediabrands Audience Platform umbrella.

IPG Mediabrands has been investing heavily in technology to develop cutting-edge solutions to improve efficiency and effectiveness for both traditional media industry processes and the increasingly complex and data-centric digital environment. GTS will enable the delivery of technology enabled advertising solutions that will allow all the agencies within IPG Mediabrands to improve their services in a more innovative, agile and efficient way.

The GTS hub will be involved in developing digital advertising solutions for display, search and social platforms. By developing technology-enabled solutions, GTS will enable IPG Mediabrands to utilise the wealth of data to which it has access, and assist agency leaders to collate, visualize and present the information to clients in an actionable way. An example of GTS activities might include the development of business intelligence solutions that require data harmonization and interpretation.

Led by Dene Schonknecht SVP, Director, the GTS team in Kuala Lumpur is supported by global and regional staff.

Dene_Schonknecht1Dene Schonknecht SVP, Director of Global Technology Solutions is confident that the strategy and investments driving the establishment of GTS will lead to human capital and intellectual property that will increase competitive advantage for IPG Mediabrands. The GTS hub will also be able to leverage the likes of other IPG Mediabrands innovation portals such as the IPG Media Lab. The New York based Media Lab is the place where marketers from around the world can get hands on experience on what the future may hold in terms of technological innovation. Just one of the many tools that GTS will leverage in Asia, the Lab is an example of the types of services available to ensure clients are at the forefront of both virtual and physical technical innovations in the world of marketing.

GTS opening in Malaysia is a sign of IPG Mediabrands understanding of the importance of having a strong presence in Asia. The Mediabrands Audience Platform is also looking to expand into the region that already features MAP’s Reprise Media and Cadreon in Australia, China and Japan. IPG are making a concerted effort to step up these services across the region, ensuring clients have access to the most cutting-edge services in digital.

One of the driving factors for basing Global Technology Solutions in Malaysia was the support offered by the Malaysian government. MSC Malaysia status is recognition by the Government of Malaysia through the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), for ICT and ICT-facilitated businesses that develop or leverage technically innovative platforms to produce and enhance their products and services. The accreditation is a mark of world-class service and achievement, and serves as a gateway to a host of privileges granted by the Government of Malaysia.


Global creative innovation network iris Worldwide will open its first office in the Middle East in Dubai this month, due to a growing number of clients requesting the agency’s services in the MENA region following an amazing period of growth for the agency in Asia-Pacific.

iris, whose Asia footprint spans offices in Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, Delhi and Jakarta, has signed an agreement with Expression, one of the most interesting and awarded agencies in the region.

Scott612jpgThe partnership will see iris introduce its unique and diverse agency model and creative offering to the MENA region for the first time, which has seen it win a number of regional briefs in recent months, such as Diageo and 3M.

The agency’s Extraordinary Ideas proposition has become popular with clients, revolving around the notion of creating solutions that provide competitive cut through by being more interesting, valuable and cultural.

Expression will formally join the iris network, when Expression’s office – based at Al Thuraya Tower in Dubai’s Media City – will officially be branded an iris office.

iris Middle East will be led by Scott Feasey as managing director and David Brook as creative director. Its 21-strong team will offer a full house of through the line creative services – in line with iris’ ‘creative diversity without borders’ premise – including advertising, branding, CRM, design, direct, interactive, promotional and strategy.

davidbrook1The office will launch with an impressive client base, including Expression’s existing clients, such as Unilever, Lufthansa, Jumeirah International, Bridgestone, Gulf Food Industries, Ray-Ban, Carrefour Express, Dubai Chamber and Danone, as well as iris’ regional clients, which include Sony Mobile, Shell and Adidas.

The deal will allow clients to tap into the scale and resources of the iris global network, which includes offices in the US, Europe and China as well as award-winning digital, planning, research, CRM, social and creative capabilities.

Expression, which launched in Dubai in 2002, is one of the GCC’s most awarded independent communications agencies. The opening follows iris’ latest launch in November 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia.


Uniplan is reinforcing its regional luxury team in Hong Kong and Shanghai in order to bolster its luxury leadership in the Greater China Region.

Three top industry veterans are now on board, including Simon Greenoff as Regional Creative Director, Kirsten Emma Bell as Executive Producer and Colin Wolstencroft as Production Director. All three will report jointly to Karen Arndt, Managing Director, China and Daphne Choi, Managing Director, Hong Kong.

Simon Greenoff (Regional Creative Director) has more than 15 years of experience in Hong Kong, developing ground-breaking creative for clients such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Chloe and Hongkong Land. Greenoff brings a strong capability for creative vision, brand messaging and environmental design to Uniplan's luxury team. He created some of the most prestigious experiences in Greater China, including the Chanel Mobile Art Exhibition Launch Event, La Maison de Chloe, and the Louis Vuitton Hong Kong Canton Road Flagship Store Opening. His event "La Maison de Chloe" was voted "Event of the Year" by the Hong Kong Tatler in 2006. Simon is particularly adept at blending brand messaging with environmental solutions that create unforgettable brand experiences.

Kirsten Emma Bell (Executive Producer) has spent the last 3 years in Asia, dedicated to producing luxury events for brands such as Lanvin, Hugo Boss, Cartier, Forevermark, Chaumet and Hermes. Recent shows prior to joining Uniplan included Hugo Boss Black Fall/Winter 2012 Fashion Show Beijing, Cartier Naturellement 2012, Lanvin in Beijing 2012 -- Womenswear. Bell was also a key producer at Franco Dragone's latest production, The House of Dancing Water in Macao. Prior to moving to Asia, Bell had produced numerous shows at various European Fashion Weeks as well as numerous corporate, festival and launch events.

Fondly known as 'Scottish Colin', Collin Wolstencroft (Production Director) has over 30 years of international and local production management experience. Coming from a theatrical background in the UK, he has been in Asia for most of the last 16 years. Projects under his belt, to name a few, include the 1997 Hong Kong Handover Celebrations, Mont Blanc 'Metamorphosis' launch, Cartier Art Deco and La Creation touring exhibitions as well as large scale events for Dior, Cathay Pacific, Fendi, HP, Fujitsu and Chanel.

Uniplan is one of the world's leading agencies for Live Communications. Headquartered in Germany since 1960, the company has full service agencies in Basel, Beijing, Cologne, Guangzhou, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Munich, Shanghai, Stuttgart and Taipei.

Uniplan

From Left to Right: Simon Greenoff - Regional Creative Director; Kirsten Emma Bell - Executive Producer, Events Division; Colin Wolstencroft - Production Director

Victor_MieresNational Instruments announced the promotion of Victor Mieres to vice president of emerging markets for Asia/RoW. Mieres, who recently relocated to Singapore, will use his 24 years of experience and innovative business practices with NI to lead this high-growth region, which contains immensely diverse, complex markets.National Instrumentsannounced the promotion of Victor Mieres to vice president of emerging markets for Asia/RoW. Mieres, who recently relocated to Singapore, will use his 24 years of experience and innovative business practices with NI to lead this high-growth region, which contains immensely diverse, complex markets.

Mieres developed a strong track record of international business experience and success. He spent the majority of his career at National Instruments establishing many of the company's business operations outside of the United States, including Greater China, South Korea, Eastern Europe, Brazil, India and Russia. Mieres developed a strong track record of international business experience and success. He spent the majority of his career at National Instruments establishing many of the company's business operations outside of the United States, including Greater China, South Korea, Eastern Europe, Brazil, India and Russia.

His strong expertise in largely untapped international growth markets helps grow those areas into successful, aligned business operations. In his new role, Mieres will capitalize on the region's existing success and lead it to help create an organization that can best scale to meet the company's long-term opportunities. His strong expertise in largely untapped international growth markets helps grow those areas into successful, aligned business operations. In his new role, Mieres will capitalize on the region's existing success and lead it to help create an organization that can best scale to meet the company's long-term opportunities.

Over the past several years, National Instruments has invested in the emerging markets for Asia/RoW by expanding its manufacturing, sales and R and D operations to the area. These operations better incorporate design needs of local customers, optimize product delivery and provide better customer support. Mieres' relocation to Singapore further compliments the company's investments by broadening its talented regional management team. Over the past several years, National Instruments has invested in the emerging markets for Asia/RoW by expanding its manufacturing, sales and R and D operations to the area. These operations better incorporate design needs of local customers, optimize product delivery and provide better customer support. Mieres' relocation to Singapore further compliments the company's investments by broadening its talented regional management team.

Mieres will also continue to expand the Planet NI program designed to empower engineers in emerging countries to achieve sustainable prosperity by providing them with increased access to NI technology. The program involves a wide range of support activities, including technical consulting, reduced pricing on NI tools, access to world-class training and technical support. Under Mieres' leadership, the Planet NI program has grown to more than 20 countries worldwide in only four years. Mieres will also continue to expand the Planet NI program designed to empower engineers in emerging countries to achieve sustainable prosperity by providing them with increased access to NI technology. The program involves a wide range of support activities, including technical consulting, reduced pricing on NI tools, access to world-class training and technical support. Under Mieres' leadership, the Planet NI program has grown to more than 20 countries worldwide in only four years.


KinsonlHTC, a leading global designer of smartphones, announce the appointment of Mr. Kinson Loo as General Manager of Hong Kong and Macau.

Kinson will oversee the business operation and development of HTC Hong Kong and Macau. He has over 20 years of extensive experience in the telecommunications industry and an outstanding record particularly in the mobile phone business. Prior to joining HTC, Kinson held key management positions at various renowned international mobile phone brands, including Vice President of Ericsson Group, President of Motorola Hong Kong and General Manager of Motorola Mobile Devices (Hong Kong and Taiwan), Sony Ericsson Corporate Vice President and Head of Region China, as well as President of INQ Mobile Greater China Region.

As a recognized industry elite, Kinson has twice received the "Top 10 Most Influential People in China Mobile Phone Industry" award from www.people.com.cn, the online news portal of People's Daily of China.


Ooi_Huey_Tyng2As part of its ongoing commitment in driving electronic payments innovation and across Southeast Asia, Visa has announced the appointment of Ooi Huey Tyng as country manager for Singapore and Brunei.

Ms. Ooi will be responsible for driving Visa’s growth in the two markets with a focus on forging strong business partnerships with financial institutions, regulatory bodies, technology providers and other key segments of the local economies. She takes over the country management role from Meranda Chan who is now head of marketing, Southeast Asia for Visa.

Ms. Ooi joins Visa International from DBS Bank, where she served as head of cards and unsecured loans. She has 20 years of working experience in various industries and prior to joining DBS she has held senior roles at both UOB and Citibank.

She holds a Master of Science in Finance from Purdue University, USA and is a Certified Public Accountant in Singapore and the UK. She is also fluent in English, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia.

Singapore, home to Visa International’s Asia Pacific headquarters, serves as the hub office for the company’s operations across Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa.


WarrenIndependent digital marketing agency, Greenlight, has appointed former BBC Studios and Post Productions’ commercial and Finance Director, Warren Newbert, as chief financial officer (CFO).

Greenlight’s offering spans search engine optimisation (SEO), Paid Media, Social Media, Retargeting and Display, and a growing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business in the form of Hydra, a cloud platform technology combining real-time insights from across all search channels, that turns unstructured ‘big search data’ into insightful and actionable intelligence for brands and marketers.

Newbert has over ten years’ worth of experience working within media services companies and a proven track record in building and growing businesses. Prior to joining the BBC in 2009, he was CFO at Gravity Media Group, an outside broadcast company that completed a management buy-out (MBO) out of a listed plc and acquired businesses from ITV and Seven Network. He trained with Grant Thornton and spent four years with the corporate finance practice advising a number of entrepreneurial businesses on acquisitions and fund raising.


andrewAfter five years of heading marketing in the region for Microsoft, Andrew Pickup becomes the tech giant’s corporate communications lead in Asia-Pacific.

In 2007, Pickup was named chief marketing and operations officer at Microsoft, responsible for revenue, market share and P&L performance for all Microsoft business groups in Asia-Pacific. After overseeing ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand, Pickup’s expanded geographic responsibility includes now Greater China India and Japan, too.

Pickup has held numerous marketing roles at Microsoft during his long tenure with the company. He joined Microsoft UK in 1992, before moving to Singapore in 2003.

 


Ogilvy Public Relations announced the launch of ACE (Analyst Community Engagement), a new global service designed to give technology companies an informed, strategic and measurable approach to industry analyst relations.

Ogilvy PR’s ACE service will be driven by a global team based in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney.

Partnering with KCG, an analyst relations strategy firm serving the technology sector, Ogilvy has designed a new approach to analyst relations, creating ACE as a comprehensive solution for in-house analyst relations (AR) departments that need to engage analysts locally, regionally and globally.

The partnership is unique and valuable to clients because it offers:

  • An approach based on the needs of the client and an understanding of the business of analyst relations firms, and how AR fits into the overall business and communications strategy.
  • A comprehensive solution for in-house AR departments spanning strategy and planning, retained analyst services, analyst briefings, ongoing analyst relations, training, presentation development, event management, media references and measurement.
  • A global coverage perspective with Ogilvy PR expert AR practitioners, with a collective 50+ years of experience in AR as well as trained and certified in analyst relations by KCG.
  • Recommendations and insights that are informed by KCG assets including a 400+ firm and 2,300+ analyst profile database, unlimited access to 50+ analyst firm’s research including all key verticals, and KCG’s amassed knowledge from conducting over 500 analyst benchmark projects in 8 years.
  • A flexible agency support model to supplement any internal analyst programs, on retainer or project-based, anywhere in the world.

“Analyst Relations (AR) is the most global of all the marketing disciplines,” said Luca Penati, Managing Director of the Global Technology Practice at Ogilvy Public Relations. “We believe that the analyst world consists of “Deal Makers” and “Perception Makers”, and that the true value of AR is in knowing how to distinguish between the two, and tapping the right ones to influence sales cycles and purchase decisions as well as shift market attitudes through increased exposure.”

“We have been partnering with Ogilvy on analyst relations projects for over six years,” explained Stephen England, president and partner at KCG. “We share the same vision for AR, have trained and certified many of their practitioners, and seamlessly offer our mutual clients KCG’s highly complementary targeting, training and research metrics services.”

“ACE moves AR from a necessary evil for many companies to a strategic asset that builds business,” added Penati. “Clients are eager to have clearer AR strategies and measurement systems that clearly deliver business value.”


SSArachnid_BlkSaatchi & Saatchi acquires Arachnid, one of Asia’s leading and most highly awarded digital agencies, and one of the region’s most coveted acquisition targets for many years.

The acquisition will see Arachnid rebranded Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid, as the agency becomes aligned into the Saatchi & Saatchi network in Asia Pacific. The management team of Arachnid will continue to lead the business as Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid.

Arachnid was one of the region’s first digital agencies, founded in 1996 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since then it has grown rapidly to service blue-chip clients such as Toyota, Lexus, Petronas, Dutch Lady, MINI and Reckitt Benckiser and has been ranked three times on the Deloitte Asia Pacific Fast 500 ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Asia Pacific. In the last four years alone, it has also won 11 titles in the client marketer-judged Advertising + Marketing Agency Of The Year Awards in five agency categories including Digital Agency of the Year, Direct Marketing Agency of the Year and Creative Agency of the Year.

The acquisition will initially see Arachnid embed a number of their key personnel in the Singapore office of Saatchi & Saatchi, with the bulk of the sixty plus Arachnid personnel across creative, technology, strategy, social and account management functions remaining in the organisation’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters. Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid will continue to operate separately from Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia.

gong2012GONG 2012 is Singapore’s local creative awards show to recognize the outstanding creative works of the small Island state. The awards recognize people with creative courage in the industry, who are bold enough to raise the creative bar for Singapore, as well as the clients who are courageous enough to buy and run the work, the planners who show fearlessness in risking new strategies, the directors, producers, photographers and designers who possess the guts to be original and different.
Organized by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore, better known as the 4As, GONG 2012 recognizes creative talents who have put Singapore on the global map, champions clients who were brave enough to push the limits of creativity, honours unsung heroes and young talents who have helped to grow Singapore’s creative industry.
Just last year, the organizer decided to revamp the entire concept, presenting this year a bold new format. As part of its mission “GONG gives back”, internationally renowned creative Kash Shree, Agnello Dias, Thirasak Tanapatanakul will be conducting workshops for young copywriters, art directors, tertiary students and college graduates.
New awards for the inaugural year include Entertainment & Branded Content, Creative Client of the Year, Agency Producer of the Year, Director of the Year, Young Designer of the Year, Young Photographer of the Year, Production Company of the Year.
A distinguished jury panel comprising some of the biggest names in the local, regional and international creative community has been assembled to judge the awards.

Important Dates
Closing Date for Entries 15th October 2012
Judging 29th to 31st October 2012
Awards Show & Party 21st November 2012
Avature, a leading provider of innovative Web 2.0 talent acquisition solutions delivered as SaaS, announced that it has opened a new office in Hong Kong, China as part of its expansion plan to better support its growing APAC customer base. Lead by Julian Boylan, Senior Vice-President Global Markets, the new facility is located in Central Hong Kong, at 27F World Wide House, 19 Des Voeux Road Central.

Already counting 14 of the Fortune 100 and several of the largest Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) companies among its more than 240 customers, Avature seeks to expand its user base in the Asia Pacific region and strengthen its consulting and support of existing global and regional customers.

Avature's flagship product, Avature CRM, is one of the fastest growing Web 2.0 e-recruiting systems currently available, supporting sourcing from over 200 major web sites throughout the world. Avature CRM helps customers achieve a new level of collaboration with tagging, journaling, and other advanced Web 2.0 features as well as built-in e-mail marketing and SMS communication.