Moves and wins roundup: Week of January 27, 2025

FleishmanHillard has appointed Madhulika Ojha as managing director of its India operations. Based in Mumbai, Ojha will oversee the strategy, operations and growth of the agency’s India offices. She will report to Joanne Wong, Asia Pacific president and senior partner at FleishmanHillard. With nearly 20 years of strategy consulting experience, most recently, she served as an executive director in the strategy and transactions advisory team at EY in India.

• Salina Salleh has been promoted to deputy managing consultant. Over her 12-year tenure at Archetype, Salleh has been instrumental in transforming the agency from a public relations specialist to a trusted partner in strategic communications and integrated marketing consultancy.
• Donovan Chan has been appointed as senior digital director. Since joining Archetype, Chan has been key to advancing the agency’s expertise in digital marketing.  

Research and innovation platform Ideally has hired Nick Brown to lead the fast-growing company’s expansion into the Southeast Asia region. Brown was most recently the Singapore-based head of commercial for market research firm, Mintel. In recent months, Ideally has seen increasing demand for its services from global brands as they look to adapt their marketing, products, and services to customer bases through S.E.A.

Bench Media, independent media agency, has announced two senior promotions plus the addition of five new team members to its team.

• Jamison Milessis has been promoted to performance project lead from senior performance manager. Milessis joined Bench four years ago. He began his career in media as an associate programmatic trader at News Xtend in 2018.
• Jamie Auciello has also been promoted to team lead – performance, from Senior Performance Manager. Auciello launched his career in 2021 as a digital account executive, progressing to a performance associate role before joining Bench.  

Jaslin Goh has joined Octopus Cards as the director of marketing, corporate communications and data, moving from Singapore back to Hong Kong and reporting to Octopus CEO Tim Ying. Goh was Foodpanda’s APAC vice president of marketing before joining Octopus. Prior to that, she was CMO of PayMe at HSBC. She was named Campaign’s Women to Watch in 2022. In her early career, Goh spent more than 14 years in agencies like Ogilvy, McCann and Kantar before leaving for a stint in hospitality with Shangri-La Group.  

GOVT Singapore, an independent agency, has made new appointments and grown its senior management team.

• Phang Mei Jeng, known as MJ, joins as managing director of the agency. Most recently, Phang spent 7 years in Ensemble Worldwide / Mediabrands Content Studio in Malaysia. She also spent four years in BBDO Proximity China. She was named to Campaign’s 40 Under 40 list in 2018. Phang takes over the MD role from Alvina Seah, who will remain as a partner within the GOVT group of companies.
• Kevin Poh has also been promoted from group creative director to executive creative director. Poh has spent seven years at GOVT across two stints. His elevation to ECD follows over four years of creative stewardship of brands such as Sentosa, Julie’s Biscuits, Puma and Asahi. Poh takes over the ECD role from Tim Chan, who will be taking on a new Chief Operating Officer role in The Betterment Group, GOVT’s parent company, alongside longtime partners Leon Lai (CEO) and Aaron Koh (CCO).
• Khoo Kai Qi joins as client services director. Across over 13 years, Khoo has gained experiences across local and international brands in agencies such as Publicis, JWT, Tribal DDB Worldwide and recently, Moon Rabbit Singapore. 

Myer, an Australian retail giant, has appointed independent Australian agency Howatson+Company as its lead creative and production agency, following a competitive pitch, ending Myer’s decade-long agency relationship with Clemenger BBDO in Australia. The transition to Howatson+Company will take effect immediately. The incumbent creative agency is Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and the production company Hogarth. Clemenger BBDO first won the account over 10 years ago against Badjar Ogilvy.

Andrew Ritchie, former strategy director at Digitas ANZ, Publicis Groupe, has launched Wonder Works Digital, a new full-service customer experience and digital marketing agency to provide customer-led experiences driven by creative, marketing and digital transformation. Ritchie brings over two decades of digital leadership working with brands including Toyota, McDonald's, Tourism Australia, and World Vision. 

Archetype, global communications strategy and marketing agency, has appointed Simon Lesch as head of digital marketing for the Sydney office. Before working as a freelance consultant since September 2023, Lesch spent almost two years at marketing consulting company, Orange Line, as a senior strategist. 

Made by Ikigai, a global full-service music and sound agency, has expanded into APAC, led by Ryan Dickinson as founder and creative director. Dickinson has over a decade of experience across London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Singapore and Auckland, working to shape the sound for global brands such as Adidas, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Nike, and BMW. He was previously a music composer and sound designer at agencies.

The Tao of Advertising has appointed Paul Davies as general manager. Before joining Tao, Davies was managing director at The Frank Partnership, a business consulting and services firm; and senior vice president, at Epsilon APAC and MEA. He's also held senior positions at various agencies including OgilvyOne Worldwide and RMG Connect.  Andy Greenaway launched Tao in 2024 as a start-up performance marketing agency.

FCB Group India has won 14 new clients across its agencies, contributing to over US$2 million in business. Among the recent additions to the agency's client roster are Mountain Dew (Pakistan), Sanofi-Dulcoflex, Tasty Bite, Wagh Bakri and Torrent Electricals. These brands represent a diverse range of industries, including FMCG, healthcare, food and beverages, and power.