Move and win roundup: Week of December 16, 2024

• Graeme Read has been appointed managing director for APAC. In a career spanning 37 years, Read has held senior regional and global positions client and agency-side in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, China, India, and the UK. Prior to joining Klick Health, Read held a leadership role at Hello Health Group, and was previously president of McCann Health Asia-Pacific, where he led a team of 600 across 12 offices.

• Fred Hickman joins as group account director. Based in New York, Hickman brings 18 years of experience in pharmaceutical marketing, working with major pharma companies, as well as clinical-stage companies and biotechs launching their first assets.

• Samantha Ha has been appointed creative director, APAC. Ha joins Klick’s Singapore team with over 13 years of experience as a copy-based creative. She has held senior copywriter roles at several Singapore agencies, including Mediabrands Content Studio, MRM, Tag, and Grey Group Singapore.

• Dhillon Singh has been appointed group director, strategy, APAC. Singh joins Klick’s Singapore office with over 15 years of experience in marketing, digital business models, and customer experience. He spent the last five years at HMI Medical, most recently as vice president of digital experience & strategy, and has previously held strategy and creative roles at Saatchi & Saatchi, MRM//McCann, and Publicis Sapient. 

Droga5 ANZ (formerly The Monkeys) has promoted both Hugh Gurney and Joe Sibley to executive creative director roles for Droga5 in Melbourne. Over the last seven years, their work has been awarded at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Spikes, Clio, New York Festivals, AWARD and MADC. In their new roles, Gurney and Sibley will report into chief creative officer Tara Ford.

TBWA Melbourne has promoted Kiefer Casamore to executive general manager and Eloise Liley to chief strategy officer. Both roles have been elevated to join the executive leadership team. Casamore will be responsible for leading the creative advertising and digital services business for Australian Defence Force Recruiting (DFR), along with operational and product growth initiatives for TBWA. Meanwhile, Liley will take the reins in driving strategy for the agency, while overseeing TBWA’s suite of cultural intelligence tools.

Creative communications agency Poem has secured the Australian PR business for Google, taking charge of the company's publicity retainer and creative campaigns for 2025. Poem will assist in managing upcoming product launches, announcements, and ongoing communications for Google’s range of devices and services, including AI and consumer news related to Google Search, Gemini, YouTube, Google Maps, and more. Google joins Poem's existing lineup of consumer technology clients, which includes Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation), Sonos, DJI, and Withings.

Snap has appointed Ryan Ferguson as managing director for Australia and New Zealand. Ferguson joined Snap in July as head of sales after more than 16 years at Google, where he held various senior leadership roles. Ferguson will replace Tony Keusgen and the appointment is effective immediately.

Rideshare service Didi has appointed Strat (Stratosphere) for media planning and buying in Australia. Didi has expanded its presence in the Australian market since its launch in 2018. The appointment comes following a competitive pitch and is effective immediately, with Strat already collaborating closely with Didi's marketing team to launch their inaugural campaign together.

Agent99, an indie PR agency based in Sydney, has announced a new hire and some internal promotions. Zarah Jaggers has joined as its newest PR and social coordinator. Meanwhile, the agency has also promoted two of its team members. The first is Brooke Mason, who joined the team in 2023 as an account coordinator and has quickly risen the ranks, being recently promoted to senior account executive. In addition, Meriha Beaton has been promoted to senior account manager. Beaton brings ten years of experience in PR, media, and journalism to the team, and has been integral to the re-signing of several long-term retainer clients.