Move and win roundup: Week of June 10, 2024

Creative agency We Are Social Singapore has expanded its creative and strategy teams by hiring two senior professionals: Daniel Foo and Darcy Mitchell. 

• Daniel Foo assumes the role of creative director after spending nearly three years on the client side with e-commerce company Lazada. Reporting to regional executive creative director Omar Sotomayor, Foo’s responsibilities include leading the creative team to deliver social-first, innovative, and effective client work. With over 15 years of experience, Foo has worked at agencies such as BBH, Grey Group, JWT, and McCann. His work has received recognition at local and global award shows, including D&AD and the Creative Circle Awards.
• Darcy Mitchell has been appointed strategy director, overseeing social strategy and planning for key client accounts and innovation projects. He reports to James Honda-Pinder, head of strategy at We Are Social Singapore. Mitchell’s background includes consulting for adtech and SaaS companies on brand positioning and content strategy. A British native, he brings experience in the field from stints in London and Singapore, having worked with Iris and Dentsu.

CircleSquare, a retail marketing, brand experience, and consumer engagement agency, has appointed Cherifa Ben Slamia as its new global CEO, effective April 1st, 2024. Ben Slamia, previously the managing director for CircleSquare’s Asia-Pacific operations, now assumes the role of global CEO. She succeeds Christian Renwick, the agency’s founder-chairman, who will continue to collaborate closely with Ben Slamia and the global leadership team to steer the business, diversify offerings, and explore growth opportunities. CircleSquare has offices in London, Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei and Shenzhen. 

Finn Partners has promoted Joshua Wang to associate vice president, brand and market intelligence, Asia Pacific. This move expands the agency's regional capabilities and positions the group for growth. In his new role, Wang will leverage research, data and insight to drive revenue growth. He is also tasked with enhancing thought leadership initiatives, and fostering innovation for both the agency and its clients.

Abbott has appointed Varun Agarwal as global marketing excellence lead based in Basel, Switzerland. Before moving to Europe, Agarwal worked across multiple geographies in Asia Pacific and India, with over a decade of experience in sectors such as health and fast-moving consumer goods. Agarwal was most recently head of insights and global projects at Abbott, based in Mumbai, India and prior to that he worked for pharma major Reckitt, Coca-Cola, and P&G, among others in Singapore.

RGA has promoted Ben Miles to the newly created role of chief design officer, APAC. In his new role, Miles will elevate RGA’s craft and elevate the agency's design output across the region. He will collaborate closely with leaders in each market for his new responsibilities. Miles was previously VP and executive creative director of brand design for APAC. He joined RGA in 2020 as executive creative director of business transformation and before that, he worked at Interbrand as executive creative director for over nine years.

Ellerton & Co. has appointed Prayaank Gupta as executive director. In his new role, Gupta will lead the overall growth strategy of the business and bring in best practices by tapping into his more than 12 years of experience from other fast-growing PR agencies across Southeast Asia. Before joining Ellerton & Co, Gupta worked for seven years at PRecious Communications. Prior to that, he worked at Litmus PR, Ruder Finn and Blue Communications. 

Stagwell has announced the additions of four independent agencies in Asia Pacific to its expanding global affiliate network.  

• Agency is a Singapore-based design firm specialising in combining design and strategy to create impactful, future-oriented business solutions.
• Arena Media, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is an advertising agency delivering innovative, impactful solutions since 2009 across creative services, media, and public relations.
• Lodestar Marketing was founded in Thailand three years ago.  
• R&D Online Marketing Services, founded in 2001 in Beijing, China, is a tech-forward digital agency.

Social media agency Bread has appointed six new team members to the existing team of three.

• Talya Kaplan joins the team as content lead. With over 10 years of experience in design and content creation, Kaplan has worked across various brands and categories to deliver exceptional social-first creative. 
• Katie Moon joins the team from Aruga as social creative. She also boasts a decade of agency and in-house experience.
• Werner Coetzee joins from Havas Media as content creator. Coetzee has worked across a diverse range of brands, ranging from cosmetics and lifestyle to food and finance. editing and motion graphics. 
• Carla Woodhouse and Maayke Louwerens join as social media manager. 
• Scarlett Govey comes on board as senior account director. Having worked in both in-house brand and agency roles, Govey has over 10 years of experience in social media and marketing. 

StudioSpace has appointed Kiki Dunlaevy as director of client partnerships based in Sydney. Dunlaevy brings over 18 years of experience in advertising, digital, and brand agencies in Sydney and New York, where she held client service and new business roles at agencies, including DDB, Ogilvy and RGA. At StudioSpace, she will spearhead efforts to expand their client base, providing access to over 300 independent agencies across the full agency spectrum, all through one procurement contract.

Dentsu Creative India has elevated Surjo Dutt to chief creative officer (CCO) at Dentsu Creative Webchutney. In his new role, Dutt will spearhead the creative vision of the agency, ensuring the delivery of innovative and integrated solutions that foster business growth for clients. Additionally, he will mentor and guide the creative teams. He will continue to report to Amit Wadhwa, CEO of Dentsu Creative India. Dutt joined Dentsu Creative India as the CCO for the West and South regions in September 2023. With 25 years of experience in the industry, he has worked on over 400 campaigns across over 70 brands and more than 20 categories.

VaynerMedia has set up a full-service advertising agency in Gurugram, India, which is the agency’s sixth office in the Asia Pacific region. The agency has been in the Indian market for about two years and has worked with Fortune 500 companies. VaynerMedia India will offer a full suite of services, including creative, strategy, media, and consulting, under the leadership of Salman Moin as country manager. Moin was a co-founder of The Social Booth for over six years before joining VaynerMedia.  

Francis Coady, former chief marketing and content officer at Havas Media Network Australia, has launched Grand Pacific Entertainment & Advisory, a new marcomms advisory and original content creation company. Based in Sydney at Disney Studios, Grand Pacific is in the business of entertainment and storytelling within the advertising and communications industry. The new company will focus on a core series of services, including strategic insights and market intelligence, full-service commercial advertising across OSEP channels, branded content creation, and podcast and broadcast production. Coady departed Havas last April.

Sammy Lau has announced in a LinkedIn post that he has left M&C Saatchi Spencer. The former executive creative director wrote: "No more 4As, what next?” Lau joined M&C Saatchi Spencer in 2018. Before joining the agency, he was the group creative director at Dentsu Hong Kong and creative director at McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong.

FCB Ulka, part of FCB Group India, has been awarded the creative mandate for Provident Housing, a real estate brand in Bengaluru. The agency's Bengaluru office will manage the account. Provident Housing has a large portfolio of residential projects spanning across major cities in India, such as Bengaluru, Kochi, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Pune.

Quantcast, a global advertising technology company, has announced three new sales executives for its Singapore and Australia teams, as it continues to focus on client and commercial growth in the region, effective immediately. Lee Wee Keong and Aisyah Ilihaqq Rejaluddin join Quantcast as associate sales managers in the Singapore office, bringing a combined two decades of experience to the business. Matt Frost has joined Quantcast as sales manager in Brisbane, Australia.

Clemenger BBDO has unveiled the social, PR & influence practice Chemistry Set and appointed Rhian Mason to lead it as head of cultural design. Mason will build and lead the agency’s content, social, PR, partnership, influence and platform innovation capabilities. She will collaborate with chief strategy and experience officer Simon Wassef to help brands participate and experiment in culture and connect with audiences in the places and spaces they want to engage. Mason joins from Emotive, where she spent three years as head of social, talent and partnerships. Before Emotive, she worked at Mango/DDB in Sydney and at Mediabrands, both in Australia and the UK.   

Accenture Song has appointed Rob Ralston as product design director, effective immediately. Based in New Zealand, Ralston joins Accenture Song’s ANZ design & digital products team to create customer experiences that drive growth and relevance. Previously, he was head of design at Roam Digital and Stellar Elements. Throughout his career, Ralston has steered work for the likes of ASB Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Les Mills, Kiwibank, Ports of Auckland and Trade Me, working in agencies such as Proximity in London and Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney.

Bastion has appointed Alexandra O’Neil as its new head of brand marketing. Based in Sydney, O’Neil will be responsible for all marketing communications for the Australian and New Zealand markets, driving brand strategy and business growth alongside Bastion's executive team. Before joining Bastion, she was group marketing manager for Solotel Group. She has worked with brands including Moet Hennessy, Bacardi, Adidas, Levi’s, SXSW, Sydney WorldPride, NSW Government, CUB and Lion Nathan. Prior to Solotel Group, she was part of Crown’s business development and marketing team.

Hashtag Orange has appointed its first chief performance officer, Bhav Sharma. With over 20 years of experience, he will help scale up the agency’s performance accounts across India. Sharma was previously associated with AdGlobal360, where he served as the associate vice president and head of performance Marketing. Moreover, he has worked across B2B and B2C domains, including global brands like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Maruti Suzuki, Care Health Insurance, and Sony. 

Claxon has been appointed as media and creative agency of record for Celebrity Ink, a leading tattoo brand. Claxon’s remit encompasses all media, creative, experience and data as Celebrity Ink continues its ambitious growth plans in Australia and globally. The agency aims to drive increased customer engagement and loyalty across existing studios whilst supporting future franchisee interest in Australia and in the UK and US markets.

TBWA Singapore has made a promotion and hired another team member for its Disruption Accelerator offering. Stefan Bocos, previously data strategy director, has been promoted to senior director, data strategy & analytics. In his three years at TBWA Singapore, Stefan has helped expand the Disruption Accelerator team. The agency has also hired Shawn Shantilal into the role of data analytics and martech director. Shawn joins from EssenceMediaCom where he was data analytics manager. Prior to that, Shawn was with Huge as a quality assurance (“QA”) lead. 

Johanan Sen has been appointed group managing director at Now Communications Asia. Sen was most global sales and innovation lead at Zinc Group. Earlier in his career, Sen also worked at MediaMonks where he was regional head of strategy for APAC and Dentsu, where he was chief strategy officer for the agency’s creative brands.

Dina Bailey has joined Time Out Australia as commercial director. Based in Sydney and reporting to Kaylie Smith, Time Out APAC’s managing director, she will lead commercial and partnership efforts across Australia. Bailey has spent the past 13 years in big tech, holding leadership roles with Google, Meta and most recently as Snap Inc.’s head of agency development with prior agency experience at OMG and Dentsu Aegis.