Move and win roundup: BBDO, Starcom, The Trade Desk, JWT and more

PEOPLE MOVES

Starcom appointed Ian Loon as managing director in Singapore, taking over for the departing Patricia Goh, who held the post for three years. Loon was most recently a global founding member of Publicis Media’s business transformation practice, which launched NextTECHnow in Singapore last November. He has spent nearly 13 years with Starcom over various stints.

Myanmar's Mango Media Group has named Clint Easthorpe as chief operating officer after serving as executive consultant.  In his role, Easthorpe will focus on intra-agency integration, streamlining workflow and client-agency coordination.  Previously, he served as CEO of OMG Thailand, MD of OMD Malaysia, and MD of Zenith Media IndoChina.

Cross-device technology company Tapad announced three senior appointments in Singapore: Andrew Tu, most recently APAC MD at The Trade Desk, as APAC vice president; Henry Schenker, who was previously in the company’s New York office, as senior director of global platform solutions; and Isman Tanuri, previously with MediaMath, as APAC director of PR and marketing.  They report to Pierre Martensson, GM of APAC and Tapad’s data division.

BBDO Malaysia appointed Farrah Harith McPherson, formerly client services director at M&C Saatchi Malaysia, as GM, replacing John Teoh, who departed late last year.

WPP AUNZ sponsorship agency PRISM appointed Scott Barnes as managing director Australia, based in Sydney and reporting to Justin Ricketts, chairman of PRISM AUNZ. Barnes was previously head of partnerships and commercial at Ensemble, and before that general manager at Subnine.

J. Walter Thompson Beijing appointed Janet Dai（戴维婕）as managing director. She joins from Edelman Digital, where she has served as managing director for China since 2013.

GOVT Singapore made a series of appointments for the OCBC account it won late last year: Gloria Tan, most recently business director at independent Australian agency Ward6, as group account director; Jaslyn Lam, previous with Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore, as senior account director; Mark Lim, previously creative director at Splash, as associate creative director; and Andrew Ho, formerly with MullenLowe, as creative group head.

The Trade Desk hired Tom Weaving, formerly head of platform sales for Southeast Asia at AOL,  as director of business development for Australia and New Zealand. 

PHD Hong Kong appointed James Wong, formerly associate director of innovation and insights at Zenith Malaysia, as strategy director. Wong will lead research development and strategic communications in his new role.

Kelly Togashi joined BBDO Singapore as associate planning director, following a two-year stint at BBH Singapore. The agency also noted the hiring of planners Jaskaran Sahota and Alexandra Jo Heller in recent months.

Grey Group Australia appointed Anthony Moss as ECD in Melbourne. He joins from CHE Proximity and has also spent time at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and in the US at Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Gotham.

Senior creatives Barbara Humphries and Scott Dettrick were promoted to creative directors at The Monkeys.

Following the winning of the Mini China business at the end of last year, Anomaly Shanghai made two senior hires. Simone Chen (陈敏娟) joins as chief content officer. Prior to that, she was the deputy editor-in-chief and features director of IDEAT magazine. Nickel Lui (吕家维) returns to Anomaly from Jung Von Matt/Tonghui Beijing to be general manger of the Mini team.

Lexus China's marketing, product and public relations chief Izzy Zhu (朱江) has resigned to join NextEV as vice president. Zhu joined Lexus in July 2014.

BUSINESS WINS

The Body Shop Indonesia awarded its integrated digital and content business to Phibious Indonesia, following a multi-agency pitch. The scope of work includes social-media management, content development, digital media and Influencer management.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) announced a digital experience project to be led by Mirum Singapore and Adobe. The partners said they will seek to transform “end-to-end digital and physical experiences across all lines of business” with the brand before, during and after park visits. The company operates Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, River Safari and Singapore Zoo.

Y&R Beijing was appointed agency of record for Xtep, the third-biggest Chinese sportswear brand by market share, following a pitch. The deal covers strategy and creative development from 2017 to 2019.

The Hoffman Agency was appointed to handle the communications remit for interior design firm Designphase DBA. Hoffman will take on the PR and social media outreach strategy for the design firm. 

Financial institution RHB Singapore hired KRDS Singapore as its social media agency. KRDS will focus on building RHB’s presence on Facebook.

Discovery platform Taboola signed a three-year renewal agreement with media conglomerate India Today. The agreement allows India Today to integrate Taboola’s personalised content recommendations, full page personalisation, newsroom and audience exchange.

A team effort combining the forces of Leo Burnett Hong Kong, MSL and Luminous has won a competitive four-way pitch, called last month, for Café De Coral‘s ( 大家樂) integrated creative business

OTHER NEWS

Publicis Media announced that Blue 449 will take over the 20th Century Fox account in Australia from Zenith, to deliver “the best strategic fit” for the client’s business. The transition will take place in the coming weeks.

DQ&A, part of the Incubeta group of marketing companies and a Google DoubleClick channel partner, launched Southeast Asia operations in Singapore.

Allianz and the Asian Football Confederation announced a multi-year pan-regional partnership. The exclusive category sponsorship encompasses the AFC Champions League, the AFC Cup, as well as the AFC Futsal Club Championships.