announcement2

Florent BellahseneFlorent Bellahsene will join the Crayon Asia team as VP for South East Asia, effective September 5 2017. Florent Bellahsene will lead the company's expansion efforts in South East Asia. He will be based in Singapore and report to Crayon's CEO, Torgrim Takle.

Bellahsene's goal will be to continue running and developing a high-performance team and business across South East Asia. Joining from Southern Europe, where he led the Crayon business for France, Spain and Portugal, and across three consecutive years of leadership, Bellahsene produced triple digit growth. With over 15 years of industry experience, five of these being occupied within Crayon, Bellahsene has also played a pivotal role in several group initiatives, including new markets set-up and alliances.

South East Asia is a key region for Crayon and its intention is to further increase its focus and investment within this region. Along with this leadership announcement, the team wants to share their commitment and ambition to continue growing the company's business in South East Asia with a focus on Digital Transformation.

This leadership change and further company investments will reinforce the countries Crayon already has a presence in, namely: Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines, with further growth in other countries throughout the region.

The potential for Cloud Services Market South East Asia is very dynamic. Crayon estimates 70% of the company's customers require enablement, consulting and services to maximize the full benefits of cloud for their business. As the global leader in software asset management (SAM), cloud and volume licensing, and associated consulting services, Crayon is a trusted advisor to many of the globe's leading organizations. Through our unique people, tools and systems we help optimize our clients' technology estates within the new mobile-first, cloud-first world.

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the company has over 1000 teammates in offices worldwide.


nielsenNielsen Holdings plc announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Visual IQ, a leading independent provider of multi-touch attribution (MTA) modeling of advertising on digital platforms that helps improve ROI for brand marketers.

With this transaction, Nielsen will acquire Visual IQ's industry-leading MTA software platform, along with the underpinning data, technology and intellectual property. The acquisition of Visual IQ will improve Nielsen's ability to automatically ingest and process large datasets, as well as provide Nielsen with access to more proprietary big data from advertisers, publishers and retailers. The deal is expected to close in October 2017. Terms were not disclosed yet.

With this acquisition, Nielsen clients will gain access to Visual IQ's marketing attribution expertise and a comprehensive software platform for analyzing customer profiles, in combination with tactical marketing performance across all channels and devices. Visual IQ's Marketing Intelligence Platform delivers the real-time insights that brands and agencies need to optimize marketing performance through the combined power of audience and attribution.


Dentsu just launches MamaLab, Asia-Pacific’s first specialist marketing solutions network that focuses solely on mothers.

Conceived first in Tokyo as a strategic support unit in 2009, MamaLab will operate as a full-service marketing solutions network in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan.

Dentsu recognised the need for a specialist approach to mothers and, in response to this, created a unique marketing solutions model dedicated to better serving the needs of this powerful demographic.

A ground-breaking venture from the world’s largest advertising network, MamaLab will provide a full spectrum of marketing solutions services including strategy, creative and digital capabilities to help multinational and local businesses engage with mothers. It will also offer a flexible, family-friendly working environment for its employees.

MamaLab’s unique strategic planning tool, MamaNavi will be powered by SenseAsia, Dentsu’s proprietary brand health intelligence platform. The concept of family and motherhood has evolved significantly in recent years and the rise of digital and millennial mothers has further expanded an already diverse market. MamaLab has been created to better understand and respond to this changed reality.

Recognising that more can be done to deliver what moms really want from brands, MamaLab will draw on the expertise of its teams around the region to provide strategic insights and creative input on mothers and motherhood. This specialised offering will help brands create relevant and genuine campaigns which better connect with mothers and meet their evolving needs.

Dentsu is planning to roll out more MamaLabs in other global markets in the near future. MamaLab Thailand will launch while MamaLab China and India which currently offer strategic support will be relaunched as fullservice marketing solutions centres.


Evelyn KwongLeading integrated media intelligence, insights and content marketing business, Isentia, has appointed Evelyn Kwong as Marketing Manager in Asia, reinforcing the business’ commitment to the region.

Effective from September 2017, Kwong will lead Isentia’s marketing campaigns in Asia, a key growth market for the business.

Kwong has more than four years’ experience in marketing communications across a variety of roles with different technology vendors. Prior to her promotion at Isentia, Kwong was in charge of driving Isentia’s brand visibility through both inbound and outbound marketing tactics, including the production of customer newsletters and sponsored content.


Mi LiSouth China Morning Post (SCMP) announced the appointment of Ms. Mi Li to the position of Head of Global Marketing.

Ms. Li will report to Chief Operating Officer Elsie Cheung and will spearhead audience and market development strategies to help heighten SCMP's global brand presence. In addition to developing SCMP's branding and communications strategies, Ms. Li will identify and leverage sponsorship, partnership and marketing synergy opportunities for the brand.

She joins SCMP from the Financial Times (FT), where she was Global Head of Business Partnerships and Content Marketing, and a member of the FT's Leadership Group in the United States. Ms. Li was also a founding member of the FT's Audience Engagement team, which enhanced collaboration between its editorial team and commercial divisions. She also co-founded the FT's Future of FinTech Awards, which was launched globally last year.

Prior to the FT, Ms. Li was Audience Development Director at The Fiscal Times and Marketing Manager at American City Business Journals, the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the United States. She has established her thought leadership in global marketing and digital strategies and spoke at multiple international conferences such as Digital Innovators' Summit and Digital Media Asia.

Ms. Li holds a B.A. in Journalism from the Communication University of China, and a M.A. in Strategic Communications from the University of Missouri-Columbia.


frankRS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents, a global distributor for engineers, has announced the recent appointment of Frank Lee as Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, who will lead and advance the strategic growth initiatives for RS in Asia Pacific.

The appointment supports the region's commitment to be the leading one-stop solution provider offering products from industrial to electronics, powered by technology, innovation and data-led insight.

Based in Hong Kong, Frank will be responsible for defining and implementing the strategic direction and growth strategy across Asia Pacific. He will lead the region to drive business development by strengthening the company's value proposition, driving further improvement in customer satisfaction, sales effectiveness and operational excellence, and developing the RS brand to reach a large base of industrial and electronics customers.

Frank brings with him more than 30 years of experience from the engineering, technology, service and distribution sectors with a track record of delivering strong performance in Asia Pacific. He will lead the business as the team continues to translate the company’s vision into actions to drive value for its customers and suppliers via technological innovation and excellent services.

Prior to joining RS, Frank was the CEO of ISS in China. He spearheaded the development of a new strategic direction for the organization and built a leadership team to deliver its new ambitions. Prior to that, he held various senior executive positions in Rexel, Ingersoll Rand, Siemens and the ABB Group.


Hills Limited announced that it has embarked on a digital transformation program in partnership with Cognizant, a global professional services leader, to revitalize the company's e-commerce capabilities and improve core business processes, customer engagement, and operational efficiencies.

Hills is focused on the distribution of technologies that 'connect, entertain and secure people's lives'. With a strong presence in security, audio-visual, communications and health markets, Hills has positioned itself as a 'one-stop shop' for integrated building technology solutions, targeting industry verticals such as health, education, banking, and government infrastructure.

Cognizant will leverage its digital strategy, design, and technology capabilities to develop an e-commerce platform that will provide the customers of Hills with 24x7 real-time inventory and self-service capabilities, including customer statements, invoices, pricing, online payments, and delivery information. Cognizant will implement a managed service model to enable Hills to improve operational agility and lower costs, while re-deploying savings to fund investments in innovation for growth. Hills believes it will allow staff to be more engaged with customers and vendors, and create a stronger platform to promote vendor products.

The planned go-live date for Hills' e-commerce site is early 2018.


Essence, a data-driven global agency that is part of WPP, announced two new additions to the agency's regional leadership team: Stephen Tompkins has been named Head of Media Activation, APAC, and Haruna McWilliams will become Regional Strategy Director, a newly-created role.

stephenAs the Head of Media Activation in APAC, Tompkins will be charged with overseeing a team of social, display and search media activation experts across APAC. He will sit on the Regional Leadership team and report to Oscar Garza, global director of media activation. With over 15 years of rich digital media experience in Asia and North America, Tompkins most recently spent six years at Publicis across New York, Beijing and Singapore handling operations, activation and strategy for the programmatic practice. Additionally, he was part of the initial Vivaki Media Technology team which developed the original audit process for all ad tech vendors in North America and APAC. He was part of the launch team to setup Vivaki's biddable media practice in Southeast Asia across 8 markets. Prior to joining Publicis, he worked in marketing and account management for Microsoft, Mediaplex and Nielsen.

harunaMcWilliams will step into the newly-created role of Regional Strategy Director to build Essence's strategy offering in the region. She will work closely with Alastair Boyle, Global Strategy Lead, to coordinate Essence's regional and global viewpoint. McWilliams will report to Kyoko Matsushita, CEO of Essence APAC. With over fifteen years of industry experience, she most recently served as Global Planning Director at Leo Burnett, Singapore, where she played a key role on P&G brands. Previously she held roles in Japan, US and the UK with Ogilvy & Mather, BBDO and JWT in charge of strategy for global clients such as Unilever, Danone, AmEx and Cisco Systems. Before her move to Singapore, she built the strategy capability for IPG Mediabrands in Japan, where she was the lead on key global clients including J&J and Coca-Cola.

The appointments are effective immediately. Both leaders will be based in the agency's Singapore office.


TrueCommerce, a global provider of trading partner connectivity and integration solutions, announced the acquisition of Datalliance, the world’s largest provider of technology and services to support collaborative replenishment programs such as vendor managed inventory (VMI) and related business needs.

This addition complements the TrueCommerce portfolio of offerings by providing a strategic technology service that extends its commerce network into the collaborative replenishment, inventory management and demand forecasting markets.

Omni-channel enablement changed the traditional ordering process by requiring more visibility and collaboration. VMI aligns business objectives and streamlines supply chain operations for both suppliers and their supply chain partners. Trading partners focused on collaboration through VMI programs are expanding at a rapid rate, using better demand signals, optimizing shipping and distribution to increase profitability and automating more of the replenishment process to drive efficiency and reduce costs. Datalliance VMI solutions allow them to scale their programs to cover more categories, more geographies, more partners and increase sales.


4prebidThe WPP-backed ad tech firm AppNexus and Rubicon Project launched Prebid.org, Inc., an independent organization dedicated to the development and promotion of open-source header bidding solutions and other open-source tools to drive publisher monetization. A collaborative effort of industry partners, Prebid.org is open to all parties advocating for unbiased and efficient monetization solutions and a digital advertising ecosystem that thrives through fair competition.

In joining Prebid.org, partners commit to a Code of Conduct containing directives for header bidding wrapper mechanics, data and transparency, and user experience. Written to ensure best practices for fair market competition, the Code of Conduct supports improved performance for publishers and user experience for consumers. Amongst the products currently contributed to Prebid.org are client-side wrapper solution, Prebid.js, server-side header bidding solution, Prebid Server, as well as Prebid Mobile, Prebid Video, ad Prebid Native. The solutions support all device types.

Header bidding is a technique created to offer publishers a more efficient way of working with programmatic vendors, equipping them to improve their monetization strategies in an unbiased environment. As opposed to proprietary technologies, open-source header bidding solutions are updated on a continuous basis by a multitude of industry players – the Prebid.org community currently spans 81 demand partner adapters, 5 analytics providers, and 191 individuals who contribute code to the project. The collaborative nature of the organization instills transparency and accountability into the ecosystem, while enabling the Prebid solutions to adapt quickly to market and publisher needs.

Publishers and ad tech vendors are invited to join Prebid.org, to further develop and champion best practices for open-source header bidding.


Local agency SECTION completes the beta development of the Cross Border Insights Finder.

Produced by FACEBOOK IQ, designed and developed by SECTION, this new tool is for free available online for businesses of all sizes looking to explore and unlock new growth opportunities beyond their borders.

By asking three simple questions, the Finder is able to provide an instant comparative analysis of the following indicators:

  • Potential reach, which is the number of people your ads would potentially be able to reach on Facebook in the listed country, indicating the potential market size
  • Conversion index, that reflects the aggregated relative conversion rate in the selected country and industry for that campaign objective
  • Cost index, which reflects the aggregated relative costs to advertise in the selected country and industry for the specific campaign objective
  • Competition index, which indicates how frequently consumers see ads in the selected country and industry for that campaign objective, indicating how competitive the market is on Facebook platforms


In line with FACEBOOK’s vision to bring people closer together, FACEBOOK IQ is providing this tool to connect businesses better with the real and right people in markets they work in or intend to explore and export to.

The beta version is now available in English, Traditional / Simplified Chinese, Korean and Japanese with more languages to come in the coming months.


Glispa announced its acquisition of justAd, a creative tech platform that enables brands and agencies to easily create, serve and analyze interactive ad units.

justAd boosts ad results by allowing the creation of dynamic, interactive creatives at scale. These more engaging ad types enable brands and agencies to reach past “banner blindness syndrome”, create real communication and improve KPIs.

Over the past year, justAd’s main business was in the playable ads arena, where most of the biggest games and brands participated in its beta offering, hence most blue-chip brands have run campaigns with justAd on a global scale.

“Playable and interactive ads hold a huge amount of promise, but the technical difficulty involved creating them has limited their use so far. justAd’s solution solves this problem, and democratizes this technology for brands of all sizes,” said Itamar Benedy, CEO at Glispa. “This acquisition represents one more step on our way to building a more comprehensive solution for our clients, and is a real game changer. We’re very excited to fold this into our existing products and to begin rolling it out.”

justAd’s solutions will integrate into a variety of existing Glispa products including Glispa’s native programmatic ad exchange Avocarrot as well as Glispa’s performance network. It will also integrate with Glispa’s proprietary Data Management Platform (DMP) to gather and provide high quality first party data and provide the most up-to-date consumer insights.


Following rapid recent growth, R/GA Shanghai has announced a continued strengthening of its leadership team with two key appointments.

  • Sook Ping Chow joins as Managing Director, bringing with her 20 years of pan-Asian industry experience in agencies including M&C Saatchi, Leo Burnett, TBWA, Wieden + Kennedy and, latterly, Factory Design Labs, whose Shanghai office she launched and built as MD. She will report to Jim Moffatt, EVP Managing Director APAC.
  • With a distinguished career including five years of multi-award-winning campaigns for Nike China, celebrated Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai CD, Terence Leong has also been snared as Executive Creative Director. He’ll report to Chow, and work closely with VP ECD APAC, Bob Mackintosh.

Tim Hoffman CTOMegaport, the global leading provider of Elastic Interconnection services, announced that Tim Hoffman will join the company as Chief Technology Officer, effective 1 October 2017.

He will be responsible for managing product, procurement, network operations, network architecture, and software development, and will report directly to Megaport’s Chief Executive Officer, Vincent English.

Following nearly a decade of building telecommunications networks in New Zealand, Hoffman has spent the last three and a half years leading teams to scale large Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) and backbones around the world. From late 2014, he led the Global Network team at Twitter, responsible for worldwide infrastructure, including all interconnection, backbone and content distribution infrastructure, and global Data Centres. He has negotiated peering agreements with some of the largest internet backbone providers in the world, while leading the commercial effort to significantly reduce the operational costs of infrastructure.


Essence, a data-driven global agency, just announced that the team members and clients of its sister agency, Maxus, will join Essence in Korea. This is part of GroupM's global reorganization, which is expanding the capabilities and reach of Essence -- and merging MEC and Maxus in other markets. The transition of Maxus to Essence in Korea will be complete by the end of the year, with the migration of a 15-person team.

Jay Lee, currently Business Director of Maxus Korea, will switch into the same role at Essence, where he will lead the agency's expansion into the market and offer clients a compelling, data-led full-service media proposition. The role will be in effect by January 1, 2018.


Gnowbe attracts global thought leaders in Harvard, Facebook, EdTech, ExecEd, HR and Learning
20170905 1931539 1Silicon Valley- and Singapore-headquartered start-up Gnowbe, a market leader for mobile-first, micro-learning, announced the addition of 4 new advisors to join their experienced, global team to help with aggressive growth and development. The new advisors include:

1. Professor John J-H Kim, Senior Lecturer (EdTech Innovation Expert), Harvard Business School, and Chief Executive Officer of District Management Group teaches courses such as, Entrepreneurship and technology innovations in education, a course which he created and Social Innovation Lab, which provides an opportunity for students to build a social enterprise using business disciplines and entrepreneurial tools.

2. Dominique Turpin, Former President, Current Dean of External Relations, IMD (International Institute of Management Development), Executive Education, Marketing & Brand Management: Dominique Turpin has extensive experience at IMD, one of the top ranked Executive Education providers globally, as the former President and as a professor for marketing. He has curated successful programs for companies such as Groupe SEB, Panasonic and Japan Tobacco International. Aside from IMD, Dominique has also consulted and educated many international companies, notably Coca Cola, Nestle and Phillips.

3. Tuyen Nguyen, Regional Sales Manager, Americas, Publisher Solutions, Facebook, former Google executive for 11 years: Tuyen leads publisher acquisition and strategy development for the NA mobile app market for Facebook. She is hyper-focused on building highly efficient sales teams and has worked globally, bridging the gap between Product and Sales/Marketing. With 10 years of online advertising experience, Tuyen has worked with Fortune 500 Tech B2B companies like Google and has lived/worked in Vietnam, India, US and Singapore.

4. Yin Cheng Lau, Former Group HR Head, IDA is living in the intersection of Technology, Human Resources, and Organisation Development and helps organisations and leaders be "Future Ready". YC has 20 years of MNC and Government HR & OD leadership experience in Hi-Tech, Telecommunications, Hospitality, Start-Up, and Supply Chain Management sectors across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. He advises C-level executives, start-ups, and boards in tackling complex people challenges, connects them with relevant partners via his network, and encourages them to realize their full potential in a digital future of possibilities. The start-ups YC advises include those in AI/Machine Learning, IOT, 5G, Workforce Analytics, micro-learning, computer vision, & energy management. Yin Cheng has a vast experience from the Ascott Group, SembCorp Logistics and the Ministry of Manpower.


Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has appointed Abhishek K Rao as Senior Director, MTV Brand, Southeast Asia, and Creative, Asia.

Based in Singapore, Abhishek will dual report to Paras Sharma, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Southeast Asia & Head of Digital Media, Asia, and to Simon Bates, Vice President, Head of MTV Asia Pacific.

In this role, Abhiskek will lead his team to grow the MTV brand, and drive synergies across the different platforms to support revenue growth in Southeast Asia. In his role as the Asia Head of Creative, he will lead on-air branding, promotions, key creative campaigns and digital and social strategies across Asia, including China, Japan and Southeast Asia.

With over 16 years in the media industry, Abhishek was most recently with Fox Networks Group as Director of Content & Communications where he guided a multifunctional 45-member team. Prior to Fox Networks, he was at ESPN Star Sports, and production houses Digital Talkies and Miditech.


Adrian ZhuAs Ogilvy continues its process of transformation, Ogilvy Beijing has announced that Adrian Zhu, Executive Creative Director of Raynet Ogilvy, has been promoted to Group Executive Creative Director (GECD) of Ogilvy Beijing. His appointment will serve to further strengthen Ogilvy’s leadership and he is the type of modern marketer that we are seeking as part of Ogilvy’s Next Chapter strategy.

As one of the first local creative talents hired by a 4A agency in China, with 25-year of experience in the communications industry, Adrian joined Ogilvy in 1994 as a senior copywriter. His abundant knowledge and in-depth understanding of both communication and creative work has helped him build a strong record working with iconic international and local brands, giving him a unique perspective to understand the Chinese market. Adrian’s track record also includes work in China outbound and a massively successful national image campaign for the Chinese government.

Adrian has worked with a wide range of clients, including IBM, Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen, FAW Group, AT&T, McDonald’s, KFC, President Food, Master Kong, China Mobile, China Unicom, Martell, Kimberly-Clark, SmithKline Beecham, Maxwell House, Dabao, Jinghua Tea, SanYuan, Yili, etc., winning honors and recognition from Media, AdFest and the China 4A Golden Seal Awards. He has won a strong reputation among clients as a reliable partner dedicated to marketing that gets results.