PHD appoints Eileen Ooi as APAC CEO

PHD has appointed Eileen Ooi as its new CEO for Asia-Pacific, who steps in in after James Hawkins’ unexpected departure in April. Ooi, who has been leading Omnicom Media Group Malaysia as chief executive since 2022, will continue in that role until her successor in Malaysia is named in Q4.

Her appointment is effective immediately and she will continue to be based in Kuala Lumpur for the role. She will report to both Tony Harradine, Omnicom Media Group’s APAC CEO, and Guy Marks, CEO of PHD Worldwide. 

James Hawkins, who had led the agency for nearly six years, left abruptly in April 2024, which surprised staff. Sources close to the matter described his exit as unexpected. While OMG provided few details, they cited a desire to “chart its future in this evolving media landscape.”

Harradine praised Ooi’s track record, saying: “Eileen has a unique ability to identify strategic opportunities and effectively convert them into tangible results. Under her visionary leadership, OMG Malaysia has undergone a remarkable transformation, achieving significant business growth, with client and employee confidence at an all-time high.”

Ooi joined PHD in 2016 and has since worked in various capacities in the Malaysian market. She has prior roles at Group M’s Maxus Global and Carat and stints at Mindshare and Starcom in Kuala Lumpur. Her tenure at OMG Malaysia is marked by strong new business wins, including clients like CelcomDigi, Tyson Foods, and Vinda. 

While Ooi’s promotion is seen as a testament to OMG's commitment to internal talent development, she inherits a portfolio that is not without its hurdles. Under Hawkins' leadership, PHD secured key accounts such as Visa in New Zealand and retained major clients like HSBC. However, the agency also lost prominent clients, including Unilever and Google, in Australia and New Zealand.

In an exclusive interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific, Ooi outlined her priorities and vision for the agency’s future, emphasising the importance of people and culture in driving business success:

“I believe that people must come first, and business results will follow. I am an advocate of building a strong culture within the network for our clients because while product and capabilities are important, great talent is still required to deliver them.”

Ooi also talks about PHD’s proposition, "Intelligence. Connected.," and how she plans to leverage it to drive growth for both clients and the agency:

"Continuing on this upward trajectory, I will drive PHD’s ambitions backed by its new proposition, ‘Intelligence. Connected.’ and help clients dominate the marketplace with the next generation of tools and talent. I am excited to start with PHD because purple is part of my DNA and I have always loved the network."

Her immediate focus, she said, will be on enhancing talent capabilities, strengthening the agency’s internal culture, and supporting client transformation in an AI-driven future:

“My biggest priorities are to continue elevating the capabilities of our people, strengthening our network’s connectivity and culture, and supporting our clients’ transformation.”

Despite the challenges of taking over an agency that has been without an APAC CEO for several months, Ooi remains optimistic about PHD’s future. She pointed out that the group leadership team had worked closely with staff to ensure business continuity:

"It has been business as usual for the past few months as the teams rallied to ensure we continue delivering intelligent business solutions for our clients."

Ooi’s appointment comes as PHD has maintained its top position in Campaign’s APAC media agency rankings. In June 2024, the agency added $49.3 million in new business, including securing the Vitasoy media account in Hong Kong and retaining the remit in mainland China—a combined deal valued at $36.5 million, according to COMvergence data. The agency also retained Bank Danamon and won pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma’s media account in Indonesia.

Guy Marks, CEO of PHD Worldwide, remarked on Ooi’s ability to lead the agency forward: “With her record of driving growth for her clients and her agency alike, Eileen is the ideal choice to ensure that PHD APAC delivers on that ambition. She’s a practitioner with an eye for detail, she moves at pace, and is a fierce collaborator—all things that will make her a great partner to our clients in Asia-Pacific.”

Beyond her day job, Ooi advocates for talent development within the advertising industry. She regularly participates in local and regional speaking engagements and was recently re-elected president of the Malaysian Digital Association (MDA).