Move and win roundup: Week of February 17, 2025

Westpac has appointed BMF as its new strategic creative and brand agency, following a competitive pitch. The bank has worked with the incumbent DDB for the past 13 years. Accenture Song’s Droga5, Saatchi & Saatchi, VML and Howatson+Company were among the contenders. Late last month, Westpac CMO Annabel Fribence left the bank after joining from KFC to lead the bank’s marketing for over three years. Elaine Herlihy, former marketing and brand head, took on the role on an interim basis. 

McCann Worldgroup has appointed Mae Ng as chief client officer of McCann China. Mae will further strengthen the agency’s client-centric strategy. Before returning to McCann Worldgroup, Ng served as marketing and communications director for Bottega Veneta Greater China. Prior to that, she played a pivotal role in shaping the brand strategy and communication partnership for L’Oréal Paris (China) at McCann. Before moving to Shanghai, she worked for DDB in Taiwan and Hong Kong, MullenLowe in Vietnam, and started her early career in Singapore. 

TBWA\Australia chief creative officer Evan Roberts announced in a LinkedIn post that he
is leaving the agency after nearly five years at the agency. He will launch his own creative start-up. Roberts first joined TBWA in 2020, leading across the group’s agency offices and brands, including TBWA Sydney, Eleven, Fleishman Hillard, Fabric, Integer and Bolt content. Before TBWA, he worked at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and GPY&R Melbourne (now VML).

Ogilvy has appointed Max McKeon as its new executive creative director (ECD) in Sydney, effective mid-March. McKeon joins Ogilvy from Special, where he worked on accounts including Uber Eats, Kayo Sports and Pepsi for the past four years. His previous experience includes stints at Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, Colenso BBDO in New Zealand, Publicis Mojo and The Monkeys in Sydney. McKeon's work has earned Grand Prix awards at Cannes Lions, D&AD pencils, One Show, Clio and LIA awards.

VML has promoted Sandra Gin and Edward Ha to executive directors in Hong Kong. Gin will drive growth in regional markets, while Ha will focus on local market growth. Both will report to Maggie Wong, CEO of VML Hong Kong. Gin joined the former Wunderman Thompson in 2020. Prior to that, she worked at agencies, including BBDO Toronto, FCB Toronto, Digitas Hong Kong, and Golin Hong Kong. Her experience spans gaming, loyalty, telecommunications, healthcare, hospitality, and finance. Ha co-founded and led a boutique agency for eight years before joining VML. His experience covers Hong Kong and mainland China.

Business news network CNBC has appointed Spriha Srivastava as vice president and executive editor of digital for International, effective May 2025. Srivastava will lead the digital team across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, overseeing editorial direction for all digital content for CNBC International. She will report to CNBC International president Deep Bagchee, based in London. Srivastava joins CNBC from Business Insider.

Leverate Group, an integrated Southeast Asian agency, has announced new appointments. Fauza Istighfareva joins as a client partnership officer (CPO). Istighfareva returns to Leverate from Tokopedia and Tiptip, where her role was on developing sales and business partnerships. She previously worked at Leverate for more than seven years. And Dylan Setiawan has been promoted to chief operations officer (COO). He joined Leverate in 2020 as head of creative account strategy. Prior to that, he worked at Havas Indonesia.

Lion & Lion has appointed Jonathan Lee as its new head of business and integrated brand consulting. Lee brings over a decade of experience in 360 digital marketing, media, editorial content, and strategic planning across various sectors. Before joining Lion & Lion, he was most recently digital account director and strategist at LOKi.

Sweta Mehra has joined NAB as executive general manager for personal everyday banking. She will be responsible for improving experiences across channels for its customers and bankers. Mehra had been with ANZ for nearly eight years. She joined ANZ from Proctor & Gamble in 2017 as its chief marketing officer. She has moved away from the CMO role into a managerial position since mid-2023 when Astrud Burgess stepped in as CMO. As ANZ’s former CMO, Mehra was selected into Campaign’s Power List four times from 2020 to 2023.

Cohesity, a firm specialising in AI-powered data security, has named Carol Carpenter as chief marketing officer. With more than 20 years of technology industry and marketing leadership experience, Carpenter joins Cohesity from her most recent role at Unity, where she served as CMO. Prior to Unity, she was CMO at VMware. She also held leadership at Google, ElasticBox (acquired by CenturyLink), Trend Micro, Keynote Systems, Apple, and more. At Cohesity, Carpenter will focus on driving increased brand awareness, refining go-to-market strategies, and creating programs to drive demand generation.

Adform has announced new additions to its leadership team in APAC:

• Amy Jansen-Flynn is promoted to vice president. Jansen-Flynn has played a pivotal role since Adform entered APAC in 2016. She joined Adform from REA Group in 2022.
• Juozas Petravicius (JP) takes on the role of director, technical solutions. Petravicius will lead Adform’s technical consulting for APAC. He worked for Rubicon Project and Adform before moving from London to Singapore in 2018.
• Finley Matheson moves from Adform UK into the role of regional account director. Matheson will lead strategic growth of Adform’s key accounts in the region and strengthen relationships with global agency holding groups. Prior to Adform, he spent nearly four years at MediaMath.

Comexposium has extended its partnership with The Junzi (formerly Junzi Communications) for a third consecutive year. As a leading global event organiser, Comexposium operates the SIAL Network, a platform for the food and beverage industry with events across Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East. In Malaysia, its flagship event, Food & Drinks Malaysia (FDM) by SIAL, will return on 1st to 3rd July 2025. Junzi will continue to support FDM through strategic communications, thought leadership, stakeholder engagement, and media relations. Meanwhile, as part of its growth strategy, Bravo Events & Entertainment has signed a one-year partnership with Junzi, leveraging its expertise for client servicing and strategic counselling.

Enigma has appointed Joanne Lilley as its new Sydney managing director. Lilley joins the agency to drive its Sydney output. With over 20 years of experience, she has previously worked with brands including NRMA, Macquarie Bank, Jetstar, The Sun, and more, She was most recently Accompany Group’s principal. Prior to that, she worked at Houston Group and Droga5.

Thanh Thanh (Tanya) has been promoted to partner at Mindshare T&PM Vietnam. She was previously the lead of the beauty and wellbeing business unit on Unilever. Having spent nearly six years at Mindshare, her previous experience includes stints at Fonterra and Abbott.  

Cedric Lim has been promoted to the role of head of studios at We Are Social. Lim has been with the agency for over six years and announced his promotion on LinkedIn. He has previously worked with Egg Productions and HiVelocity Events.        

Pranav Rastogi has been appointed executive director and head of Singapore at Wachsman, a communications agency that focuses on emerging technologies. Rastogi’s most recent assignment was as head of communications at Grow Asia. He has also held several senior positions at Singapore-based PR firm Red Hill including managing director. Rastogi’s mandate is to broaden Wachsman’s presence and footprint in the APAC market. His appointment comes shortly after the exit of Danny Phan who was global chief strategy officer and MD APAC at Wachsman.    

Nik Doble has been promoted to national head of investment at Mindshare. He was previously head of investment at the agency, having moved from OMD in 2023 as head of trading. His previous experience includes stints at News Corp and Maxus. Doble will now have oversight over teams across Sydney and Melbourne and work closely with GroupM chief investment officer Melissa Hey. 

Sheena Shah, formerly with FWD in Hong Kong where she held a group corporate communications mandate, has joined Thoburns as director in its London office—a PR firm specialising in private investors and high-growth markets. Shah left FWD last April and has previously worked with the Hyphen Group, Finsbury Glover Hering, and Brunswick Group in the region. 

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has named PHD New Zealand CEO Nikki Grafton to the newly established role of CEO, OMG New Zealand, effective immediately. As New Zealand CEO, she will lead the ongoing expansion and evolution of the network. In her new role, Grafton will be supported by Nigel Douglas, CEO of OMD New Zealand, and Jane Stanley, CEO of Hearts & Science, ANZ. She reports to OMG APAC CEO Tony Harradine. Grafton spent over two decades at PHD starting as a manager and was promoted to CEO in 2019. Meanwhile, PHD New Zealand managing director Abby Parkin will be elevated to CEO, effective 1 March.

Dept has appointed Christine Watts as its new client director for creative and media in Australia. She brings over 15 years of experience in leading global agencies, such as DDB and 303 MullenLowe in Australia, including six-and-a-half years in a leadership position at Wunderman in New York. In this new role, Watts will contribute to the marketing and tech services company's growth, leading relationships with clients such as Ebay, Ancestry, Canon, Grill'd, and PBS Kids. In addition, Dept has also hired Zach Edwards as senior cultural strategist. Edwards worked at Keep Left, Smiling Mind and RMIT University before joining Dept.

MiQ has appointed Addy Cutts as its new commercial director for Southeast Asia. In the newly created role, Cutts will lead MiQ's commercial expansion including sales and account management teams. Cutts has a two-decade-long career in the tech, programmatic, media and digital advertising sectors across the UK and Singapore. He was instrumental at Oracle Advertising as its regional director for JAPAC. Cutts has also worked with angel-backed venture fund First Party Capital, Visual DNA and Lonely Planet and was a Board member of the IAB Southeast Asia and India.

Netflix Australia has appointed Initiative as its new media agency of record and has named Amplify as its lead creative agency. The pitch for the media business began last year with agencies in the fray including Wavemaker, Initiative, Kaimera, and The Monks. Wavemaker is said to have lost the account due to speculation of conflicts since it counts Amazon and Paramount among its clients. This win for Initiative comes after the agency was handed Volvo’s media account in December 2024, after nearly 25 years with incumbent WPP’s Mindshare. Further, Netflix has also appointed Amplify to its local creative account strengthening a relationship that began in 2022. The streaming platform doubled its revenues in 2024 and has similarly ambitious goals for the year ahead. 

Pageone Group in the Philippines has appointed Aresti 'Toteng' Tanglao as the new campaigns director of BrownBag Communications (BBCOMM), a key member of Pageone Group. A highly respected communications strategist with over two decades of experience, Toteng is known for his expertise in reputation management, crisis communications, brand positioning, and strategic storytelling. He will report directly to BBCOMM managing director Ma Luisa “Louie” P Sebastian, APR, and will oversee the agency’s key reputation management and crisis communication initiatives.

Jai Arya has joined Interpublic Group agency, Golin, as director, people and culture Asia-Pacific, effective immediately. He moves from TikTok, where he was HR business partner leader. Arya has over 15 years of experience in the technology, advertising, and marketing industries. Prior to TikTok, he also worked at Havas Group and Wunderman.

Mars United Commerce has appointed Kelly Wearmouth as managing director Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). She waws previously with Amazon, where she spent 10 years in Global, the US, the UK and ANZ-market roles, including general manager of Amazon Ads in ANZ. Wearmouth brings 18 years of experience leading and innovating in senior roles with prominent global companies including Unilever, Microsoft, and Telefonica. 

AW has announced a new client win, the Parramatta Eels, an Australian professional rugby league football club. Joining the likes of the NBA, the new appointment bolsters AW's credentials in the sports vertical. The first campaign of the new partnership is set to launch the Eels' 2025 season.