Mindshare HK head and veteran Melanie Lo takes the helm of GroupM HK

Tsang announced his resignation and will leave the group on 31 July, after 19 years with WPP, to form his own mentoring and investment business while still maintaining strong links with GroupM.  

Lo (pictured) has been with Mindshare since 1997 as deputy general manager, helping to grow Mindshare from 30 employees to 100. Lo is a well-liked boss known for her disciplined work ethic, personal sensitivity and passion for her work.

As the agency has grown in scale, it has also diversified to offer different services from media to digital to activiation. Lo has led the agency with flying colours and has won many pitches over the years. She cited 20th Century Fox Entertainment, Ikea and Prudential as interesting pitches she took part in. She has also nurtured many long-term Mindshare clients like Nestle and L’Oreal.

"Melanie has done a terrific job of building Mindshare's capabilities, especially the expertise on digital media platforms,” said Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, Mindshare Asia Pacific. “Her move within the company to GroupM is a recognition of her success with Mindshare.”

Mark Patterson, CEO, GroupM Asia Pacific, added, "It is wonderful to be able to easily identify the next leader from within the team. I have every confidence that she will bring fresh thinking, embrace new ideas and challenge the market and ourselves to develop our clients brands to their full potential."

Tsang, who was a mentor to Lo, also rejoiced on her promotion. "Melanie is a first rate leader," he said. "She's made a lot of positive changes in Mindshare over the years, and I know GroupM will change and grow and go from strength to strength under her leadership.”

Lo said she is looking forward to leading the group and praised Tsang for leaving the agency in a strong position, as well as his mentorship.

She acknowledged that there are many challenges and opportunities ahead.

For one, her replacement at Mindshare has yet to be named. "I know the individual office leaders in GroupM agencies, but I need to do some more revisions and catch up with their regional CEOs to understand their expectations and see how I could help facilitiate Hong Kong teams, together with our close relationship with our China teams, to drive and achieve those targets," she said.

Women often face a 'glass ceiling' in the corporate world, but all the agency heads in GroupM Hong Kong are women, which Lo said reflects the Group's policy to offer good career opportunities to any capable individuals. Being a working mother herself, Lo added that "working hours in agencies are often very long, but with passion and drive you can find some way out."