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Text100 announced the appointment of two creative directors to lead the business’ creative teams across Asia Pacific and North America.

Lee DevineLee Devine, Creative Director for APAC, will be responsible for building out the agency’s regional creative hub, which delivers an array of design, digital and film production services to clients, as well as taking on day-to-day leadership of Text100’s APAC creative throughput.

Prior to his current role, Lee was Creative Director at APV in Hong Kong, where he led a team of in-house creatives, writers, editors and producers, creating content for a brand portfolio that included FWD, Manulife, Prudential and Morgan Stanley. Earlier in his career, he spent more than five years working at IncrediBull, a creative agency based in London under the leadership of Richard Parkinson, now Text100’s Global Creative Director. Lee’s clients included Nokia, NCR, Skype, New Look and Nestlé. IncrediBull was acquired by Text100 in 2015.

Adam SelwynWith a background in film direction and production, copy-writing and art direction, Lee will be leading Text100’s drive to build a region-wide creative-first culture that ensures Text100 delivers ever-more inspiring and effective work to clients. He will be based in Text100’s Singapore office.

Similarly, Adam Selwyn, who will work out of Text100’s New York office, takes on creative leadership for North America, shaping the region’s creative hub and working with teams across the company’s four US offices. Adam has previously worked for Golin and Olson Engage.


Venture firm Cocoon Capital announced the appointment of Martin Roll as external Senior Advisor to the company. Roll will advise the Singapore-based firm and its portfolio companies on strategy, global expansion, branding and marketing.

The world-renowned, thought-leader, business strategist, CEO mentor and advisor to Fortune 500 companies helps Asian firms and global family-owned businesses to build and manage global brands as well as to lead high-performing, marketing-oriented businesses. He is the CEO of Martin Roll Company and brings with him more than 25 years of board and C-suite counselling experience. Roll teaches MBA, EMBA and Executive Education programs at Nanyang Business School (Singapore), and is a frequent guest lecturer at INSEAD and other leading global business schools. He has been a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company since 2015, an Associate Fellow at The Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI), and the author of global bestseller "Asian Brand Strategy" and co-author of "The Future of Branding".

Cocoon Capital targets early-stage tech investments across Southeast Asia with a preference for B2B-focused SaaS, fintech, ecommerce and disruptive tech businesses. The firm believes in deep, hands-on mentoring and has a cap of six investments per year to allow sufficient partner engagement per company.


BeMyGuest just announced the appointment of travel veteran Graham Hills to the position of Chief Commercial Office and industry leader Kei Shibata to its Board of Directors.

GrahamHillsGraham has worked across multiple travel sectors, including government institutions (Tourism Western Australia), online travel agencies (Octopus Travel), travel publishers (Yahoo!) and metasearch engines (Wego) in the past 15 years.

Kei ShibataShibata has built a variety of online vertical media - including Travel.jp, the leading travel metasearch site in Japan, Hotel.jp and Coneco.net - over the past 16 years. He has also led multiple investments in travel and ecommerce startups particularly in Asia, including Allstay in South Korea and Trip101 in Singapore. Previously, Kei worked at Mitsubishi Corporation for 11 years playing a key role in the company’s largest M&A deal to acquire Lawson Inc., the famous convenience store chain in Japan.

The appointments complement a number of additional high level specialist hires, reflecting the company’s commitment and positive response to BeMyGuest Labs’ technology.


cindyApp Annie announced Cindy Deng as Managing Director, Asia Pacific.

Cindy will be responsible for the company's customer-centric efforts and go-to-market strategy in the region. She has over 18 years of experience in digital advertising, data management, data analytics, and enterprise technologies for major Fortune 1000 companies across the CPG, auto, finance, travel and technology industries. In her most recent role at Turn, she was responsible for the overall P&L, strategies, and daily operations of Turn's business in Asia Pacific.

App Annie continues to experience rapid growth as the global app economy expands dramatically with 1 in 2 mobile devices globally in Asia -- a ratio that will continue to increase as the total number of devices reaches 6 billion globally by 2020. APAC is expected to remain the largest region by both downloads and revenue through 2021 with gross consumer spend expected to exceed $75B by 2021. Companies of diverse industries across the region are embracing mobile apps as an essential channel driving business success.


Global marketing communications agency Text100 has been appointed by NetApp to drive its brand transformation effort in Asia Pacific.

Following local competitive pitches conducted across the region, Text100 has been appointed as the APAC lead agency out of Singapore, and as the local agency of record in Australia & New Zealand, and Malaysia. These wins build on a longstanding relationship between Text100 and NetApp in India dating back more than seven years.

Working closely with NetApp’s APAC marketing, communications and campaign leaders, Text100 will be responsible for developing integrated communications strategy and campaigns, as well as crafting multi-channel content for both external and internal audiences to strengthen awareness and advocacy of NetApp’s new brand narrative.

The agency has also been tasked with driving greater consistency and impact for NetApp’s integrated communications programme across 13 markets in APAC, including Australia & New Zealand, ASEAN, Greater China, India, Japan and South Korea.


Jeremy profile picAmnet, the programmatic agency for Dentsu Aegis Network, appointed Jeremy Lo as General Manager for its Hong Kong office.

Jeremy has been previously Regional Account Director at Amnet, reporting to Anna Chan, Regional Managing Director, who is spearheading the agency that is specialised in programmatic buying and activation of audience data.

In his new role, Jeremy will oversee the Hong Kong office and be in charge of collaboration with agencies under Dentsu Aegis Network in Hong Kong to increase programmatic adoption within the group.

He joined Amnet in early 2016 and has since led the team in Hong Kong to achieve significant year-on-year growth and was also a significant driver of training initiatives, partnering with industry experts to enhance programmatic knowledge among clients and agency partners. Before Amnet, he was the Media and Communications Director for Asia Pacific at Doremus, Omnicom Group.

Under Anna Chan and her team, Amnet has rapidly expanded to launch offices in six markets in the region since 2014 including in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. In July, the company announced the appointment of Conrad Tallariti as General Manager for Southeast Asia.


Asif AliViacom International Media Networks (VIMN) announced the appointment of Asif Ali as Director, Affiliate Sales, Southeast Asia.

In this role, Asif is responsible for leading and growing channel and content distribution across linear and digital platforms in the Southeast Asian region for the Viacom brands – MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Comedy Central, Paramount Channel and BET. Based in Singapore, he will report to Paras Sharma, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Southeast Asia.

Asif was most recently Global Channel Distribution Manager at ITV International Channels, based in Hong Kong. In his three-year tenure there, he drove the strategy, sales and distribution of ITV’s international channel – ITV Choice and implemented distribution strategies aligned to business objectives. Previously, he worked at Sky Vision and Metro International Film Sales in London, where he was involved in international sales at both organizations.


Prophet, a global brand and marketing consultancy, is expanding into China by opening an office in Shanghai and hires Benoit Garbe as Senior Partner and Leon Zhang as a Partner to lead its China business. Both partners have a deep understanding of the local market and a track record advising clients on how to unlock brand-led business growth. They join a quickly expanding team of experienced consultants to form a significant local presence in Shanghai, which is Prophet’s second office opening in Asia, after the one in Hong Kong in 2012.

Marvelstone Group, the private investment firm behind Singapore-based fintech hub LATTICE80, plans to launch the world's largest artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Singapore's central business district (CBD) in 2018.

Marvelstone Group is the independent, neutral market player best positioned to bring this project to life by leveraging its experience launching and running LATTICE80. The more-than 30,000sqft space was opened in November 2016 with the objective of accelerating the growth of the fintech ecosystem and attracting opportunities from overseas to showcase Singapore as a fintech success story. More than 30 governments, 50 corporates, and 100 investors have visited LATTICE80, which is referenced not just in Singapore but as a global blueprint and standard. Aligned with the Singapore government's Smart Nation vision, the goal is to serve the existing need in the market and at the same time position Singapore as a global leader in AI technologies, expected to be a key growth engine of the future economy. The AI hub will be followed by sister hubs in Japan, Scotland, and Canada.

Fact is that many ideas in the field of AI in Singapore are still research focused and need an incubator such as Marvelstone Group to be able to bridge the gap to commercialize them for future deployment by government and corporates. Beyond incubating 100 AI startups per year, the business model of the planned hub includes intellectual property (IP) generation, educating 1,000 people per year, investments to grow the ideas, and events to involve the community.

MNCs and institutions that partner with the AI hub will benefit from access to innovative AI startups, in turn creating demand for the projects. Startups will be able to commercialize their products in a more systematic and organized manner, and easily 'plug and play' into the corporate segment. The AI hub will co-build products alongside startups and help them to commercialize products and identify market fit.


prohpretBenoit Garbe started his career on the client side, holding various roles in brand management and strategy at Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Diageo and Nike. Over the past 10 years, Benoit served as one of the founding partners of Millward Brown Optimor, which became Kantar Vermeer, a global brand and business strategy consultancy part of the WPP group. Benoit, based in Shanghai, led Vermeer China and oversaw the regional expansion of its consulting business across Asia, with offices in Singapore, Sydney, Dubai, Cape Town and Tokyo. He will joins Prophet next month and brings with him deep expertise in global brand building and a specific understanding of what it takes to win in the region.

leonBefore joining Prophet, Leon Zhang worked for the business strategy practices of Accenture and Deloitte, and most recently for WPP’s brand and marketing consultancy, Kantar Vermeer. With extensive experience in professional services, Zhang has helped both multinational companies enter and mature in China, and Chinese brands expand domestically and internationally.

This news, in conjunction with the appointment of Senior Partner Tom Doctoroff, one of the world’s foremost experts on Chinese consumers and brand building, demonstrates Prophet’s commitment to the China market. Earlier this year, Prophet collaborated with Alimama of Alibaba to develop the META brand building model for China’s digital age under the guidance of David A. Aaker, Vice Chairman of Prophet.

Later this month, Prophet will unveil the results of its second annual Brand Relevance IndexTM for China, a consumer index that ranks brands on relevancy rather than size.


hanspeterHitachi Vantara announced the appointment of Hans-Peter Klaey as chief revenue officer to lead its global sales organization and accelerate adoption of its data-driven solutions and services.

 

This appointment will fuel Hitachi Vantara’s efforts to expand its sales capabilities globally, with a cohesive strategy and an unrelenting focus to help customers achieve outcomes that positively drive business and society forward.

Klaey brings a wealth of experience from some of the world’s largest enterprise software businesses and has successfully led multibillion-dollar sales organizations. He has demonstrated his ability to drive exceptional business growth and energize employees and teams to focus on creating unprecedented value for the customer. He has global leadership experience and brings with him a great depth and breadth of solution selling experience. Among other senior executive positions, he has served as senior vice president and head of sales for HP Software in the IT infrastructure, cybersecurity and analytics software solution spaces. He also held several global and regional senior executive positions at SAP, including president of global small and midsize enterprises and as president and chief executive officer of SAP Asia Pacific and Japan.

Klaey is a Swiss national and has lived and led organizations in Europe, Asia and Americas. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Bern University of Applied Science and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from GSBA Zurich.

He will report to Brian Householder, president and COO, Hitachi Vantara.


Singtel and Ericsson will jointly establish a Center of Excellence (CoE) to facilitate 5G development and deployment in Singapore.

5G, the next-generation mobile network technology, is expected to roll out globally from 2020 and will deliver massive connectivity, ultra-low latency, gigabit speeds, and enable advanced applications such as smart cities, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, and autonomous vehicles.

Co-funded by Singtel and Ericsson with an initial investment of 2 million Singapore Dollars over the next three years, CoE aims to spearhead the development of Singapore's 5G mobile network infrastructure to support future Smart Nation initiatives. It will also be open to Optus, and Singtel's regional associates across Asia and Africa to encourage knowledge sharing within the Singtel Group.

An integral part of CoE's strategic goal is also to help industries and enterprises understand the value of 5G in transforming their business and the importance of shaping their long-term planning. This first-of-its-kind collaboration in Singapore will feature four pillars: upskilling, demos, live field trials and collaborations with tertiary institutions.

Activities will kick off in the later part of 2017, starting with Ericsson providing 5G expertise and conducting workshops, followed by field testing and hands-on experience to equip more than 100 Singtel engineers with critical competencies in designing and operating a 5G network.

5G demos will be set up in Singtel's Comcentre headquarters to showcase future 5G application possibilities such as, immersive experience on Augmented Reality, enablement of haptic feedback in surgical operations, and remote medical education.

Starting next year, a mobile 5G test bed will be deployed to carry out live 5G field trials with key enterprise customers. Singtel will also engage research and tertiary institutions on potential collaboration opportunities to test 5G radios and possible applications that can benefit from the high speeds and low latency provided by 5G. According to the Ericsson Report on 5G Business Potential released earlier this year, 5G industry digitalization will provide a number of opportunities and boost annual revenue of mobile operators by USD582 billion from the year 2026. 5G-enabled industries, such as energy/utilities and public transport will enable operators to increase revenues by 34 percent by 2026.


MarkQualtrics, a global pioneer and leader in experience management, has appointed Mark Vozzo as Head of Digital, Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) to lead marketing efforts across digital channels.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Vozzo will helm the U.S. based tech unicorn’s digital presence in Asia Pacific and Japan. He will be tasked with developing and designing marketing strategies and programmes to generate awareness of Experience Management – an emerging concept that is fast gaining momentum among businesses in the region.

With over two decades of experience in digital marketing, Vozzo brings with him extensive industry knowledge and technical expertise. Prior to joining Qualtrics, he played a pivotal role driving digital marketing and overseeing SEO, SEM, display and social ad campaigns for Google Cloud. Besides running campaigns to drive registrations for global events, Vozzo also led campaigns to launch new data regions in Singapore and Sydney. In addition to Google, he has also worked in Salesforce.com, Microsoft Australia, Fairfax Media, and Citect.

Since its official launch into the APJ region in January 2015, Qualtrics has grown to more than 90 employees across 6 offices, with over 650 customers, and achieved 100% year-on-year revenue growth. In line with this strong growth momentum, Qualtrics has recently expanded its regional footprint with the establishment of its Southeast Asia headquarters in Singapore.


IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, announced Stephen Welby to become its executive director and chief operating officer (COO), effective on January 2, 2018.


Most recently, Welby served as the US assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering. In his role of chief technology officer for the US Department of Defense, he led one of the largest research, development and engineering organizations in the world. His technical experience includes development of leading edge aeronautical and space systems, robotics, machine learning, high-performance software, and sensor systems.

IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its more than 423,000 members in over 160 countries, and its highly cited publications, conferences, and professional and educational activities. IEEE is a trusted voice for information on engineering, computing and technology, globally.


charlesThe Asia Pacific Effie Awards has appointed Charles Cadell, President of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific, and president and CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan as the 2018 Awards Chairman.

Charles joined McCann Worldgroup in early 2011 as the president of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific to oversee the region. In 2016, he relocated from Singapore to Japan to take on additional responsibilities as the president and CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan.

Before joining McCann Worldgroup, Charles was the CEO for Lowe Lintas India where he served since 2008. Prior to this, he was the president of Arc Worldwide Asia Pacific, based out of Malaysia. With extensive experience on the agency side of the business, he had held local office management and regional client management positions for Leo Burnett working out of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Thailand, Malaysia and Indochina.

Charles is a strong supporter of marketing effectiveness and was a jury member at the last Global Effie Awards. The APAC Effie awards is currently in its fifth year. Celebrating ideas that work, APAC Effie is the platform where outstanding campaigns from across the region compete for the coveted prize in marketing effectiveness. Recognised by clients and agencies around the world as the gold standard, the APAC Effie awards is organised by the Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations (CAAAA) and Tenasia Group. Call for entries for the 2018 APAC Effie Awards will commence in the coming weeks. For more updates and more information, please visit www.apaceffie.com.


Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd., announced the appointments of two new executives to support the company’s industrial internet of things (IoT) and services portfolios. Brad Surak has been named chief product and strategy officer (CPSO), overseeing the development of Hitachi Vantara’s solutions portfolio, and John Murphy has been tapped to advance its services portfolio as vice president, offerings management.

The news comes close on the heels of the company’s unveiling at Hitachi’s inaugural NEXT user conference, where it launched a fully enhanced Lumada IoT platform, together with other new offerings, including its Hitachi IoT Appliance, Hitachi Enterprise Cloud and Hitachi Smart Data Center, among others.

bradBrad Surak joins Hitachi Vantara from GE Digital, where he most recently served as the company’s chief operating officer. Prior to that, he served as GE Digital’s first chief product officer, where he was responsible for GE’s global IoT solutions and digital industrial product portfolio. Before joining GE, Surak served as the general manager of Mobile Analytic Applications and was the chief operating officer of the Business Analytics Solutions unit at SAP. He has also held executive positions at Business Objects, Cambridge Technology Partners, and Ernst & Young. In his new role as CPSO at Hitachi Vantara, Surak will be responsible for driving the company’s product and technology road map to bring intelligent innovations to market that deliver exceptional value and outcomes for Hitachi’s customers and partners.

 

johnJohn Murphy joins Hitachi Vantara from IBM, where he most recently led product development and product management for the IBM Watson Data Platform. During his tenure, he also held key leadership roles in its data analytics and enterprise content management businesses. Prior to IBM, Murphy held leadership roles in a number of software organizations, ranging from startups to large enterprises across diverse industries, including banking, entertainment, consulting and high tech. Reporting to Hitachi Vantara’s Chief Solutions and Services Officer Bobby Soni, Murphy will lead unified offerings management for the company, supporting development of its digital solutions and services portfolio and business strategy.

Launched by Hitachi, Ltd., on September 19, 2017, Hitachi Vantara is a new business entity that unites the operations, technologies, intellectual property and human capital of Hitachi Data Systems, Hitachi Insight Group and Pentaho into a single, integrated company that is focused on digital innovation. The company is now aggressively expanding its executive leadership team to support the delivery of best-in-class software, solutions and services offerings for global enterprises looking to transform their businesses and innovate with their data.


The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced the appointment of six new Board Members to its Asia Pacific Board of Directors.

Elected by the MMA’s APAC membership, the newly-appointed board members will serve a two-year term, beginning immediately.

The new Board Members include:

1. Vipul Chawla, Managing Director, Pizza Hut - Asia Pacific, Yum! Brands

2. Pham Nha Uyen, Regional Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Indochina

3. Richard Murphy, Corporate Vice President, Digital; Growth & Foundational Markets, McDonald's Corporation

4. D Shivakumar, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd.

5. Vikas Gulati, Managing Director, APAC, AdColony

6. David Porter, Vice President, Media, AAR, Unilever Asia Pte Ltd


Yvette CesDigital media and marketing solutions company, Ambient Digital Group, has appointed Yvette Ces as Regional Associate Business Director.

She will head the Ambient Digital Myanmar in Yangon and be responsible for all sales, marketing and new business activities, as well as back end operations.

Ces joins from leading telecommunications firm PLDT Global where she has managed digital campaigns across international markets as Head of Product Marketing. She has a wealth of experience from several full service and media agencies including MRM//McCann Manila as Head of Digital Media where she handled digital media requirements of top brands such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Jollibee and Nestle to name a few. Prior to MRM//McCann she was also a Regional Client Services Director for Syndacast Thailand, managing its key digital account, Accor Hotels across Asia Pacific.


Hanming HuangCriteo announced the appointment of Hanming Huang as Managing Director (MD) of South Asia and Greater China, to lead one of the fastest-growing regions for the company.

Huang will provide strategic direction and further accelerate the growth of Criteo’s South Asia and Greater China business.

Based in Singapore, Huang will set and implement Criteo’s growth strategy across South Asia, which includes Australia, China, India, South-east Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He will work closely with the regional leadership team to expand the existing customer base, and will also be responsible for strengthening Criteo’s partnership with businesses in the region throughout the industry.

Huang joins Criteo from almost ten years at Yahoo! where he was Head of Platform & Exchange APAC and led teams across six markets to drive programmatic business transformation. He was also interim MD of Yahoo! India.

In his role, Huang reports to Yvonne Chang, Executive Managing Director, Criteo APAC and will lead the regional team consisting of Alban Villani, General Manager of Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan; Jack Wu, General Manager of China; Siddharth Dabhade, General Manager of India; and Pressy Sankaran, Commercial Director of Australia and New Zealand. He will also work closely with the other country leads.


AdAsia Holdings acquires FourMAdAsia Holdings announced the acquisition of FourM, a leading publisher trading desk company in Japan. The FourMCloud will be integrated with AdAsia Holdings’ existing solutions for publishers to form the AdAsia Digital Platform for Publishers.

The acquisition provides AdAsia’s clients with immediate access to private marketplace deals with premium publishers in Japan. Additionally, FourM’s publisher solutions will allow the company to better match advertisers to publishers across the region.

Founded in 2009, FourM has secured more than a hundred premium publishers in Japan that deliver more than five billion impressions a month and is a Google Certified Publishing Partner.

AdAsia Holdings currently has offerings for marketers, advertisers and publishers across display, video and native advertising within the AdAsia Digital Platform and CastingAsia, an AI-driven influencer marketing platform.  The Singapore-headquartered company began operations in April 2016, and currently has 10 offices in nine countries, including recent office expansions in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo.