Staff Reporters
Mar 21, 2013

Barry Cupples set to depart Asia-Pacific; Cheuk Chiang to lead OMG in the region

SINGAPORE - Barry Cupples, chief executive of Omnicom Media Group (OMG) Asia-Pacific, is understood to be moving to a global role focused on trading, analytics and investment within OMG in London, with Cheuk Chiang, currently Asia-Pacific CEO of PHD, set to succeed him in the region.

Cupples (left) and Chiang in Hong Kong
Cupples (left) and Chiang in Hong Kong

Cupples, who is tipped to relocate to the UK this summer, has been offered a newly created global CEO position to lead OMG’s investment and capability development. The move follows the recent departure of Johan Boserup, who left his role as OMG's chief trading and accountability officer worldwide to become global CEO of Trading at WPP’s GroupM in October 2012.
 
Cupples took charge of OMG Asia-Pacific in 2007, following the appointment of Mike Cooper as chief executive of PHD Worldwide. He is credited with building OMG into a powerful competitor in Asia-Pacific. He hired Chiang from Cummins Nitro as one of the first major moves in the region, and managed OMD until 2011, when Steve Blakeman was named as Asia-Pacific CEO of the agency.
 
He leaves behind a healthy business that racked up more than US$400 million in new billings for OMD from 180 clients and 90 new business wins worth $623 million for PHD, according to R3’s 2012 New Business League. OMD also earned the top spot in the Recma Compitches report.  
 
One of Chiang’s top priorities in his new role will be to fill the vacant CEO post at PHD. According to industry sources, OMG is in talks with five candidates, both internal and external, for the job.
 
Chiang joined PHD in July 2008 with the brief to push the network’s pioneering position. During his tenure, PHD has punched well above its weight and was recently named Campaign Asia-Pacific's Media Network of the Year. He moved to Melbourne in 2012 for family reasons following PHD’s win of the global account for banking giant ANZ, and is now expected to run the region for OMG from Singapore.

Source:
Campaign Asia

Follow us

Top news, insights and analysis every weekday

Sign up for Campaign Bulletins

Related Articles

Just Published

Jan 29, 2026

Gemini 3 becomes the default model for AI Overviews

A pair of updates from Google see the tech giant attempt to gain a further foothold in the battle for AI-powered search supremacy.

Jan 29, 2026

Google criticised after blocking measurement ...

YouTube owner sent a 'cease and desist' letter to Barb and Kantar Media.

Jan 29, 2026

Inside Campaign Connect Indonesia: what matters to ...

Candid conversations on growth, AI and the cultural trade-offs of scaling brands, with more than 100 marketers in the room.

Jan 29, 2026

Meta hits $200 billion revenue milestone on ...

Meta reports double‑digit year-on-year revenue growth, with advertising once again accounting for almost all of the top line.