Mindshare Malaysia appoints Gerald Wittenberger as MD

Wittenberger takes over from Girish Menon, who has been handling the Mindshare Malaysia MD role in addition to his role as GroupM’s Malaysia CEO for about three years. Menon reportedly spent a significant portion of his time managing Mindshare.

The appointment, effective 12 August, will help Mindshare prepare for its next set of expansion plans in Malaysia on the back of new media and new consumer behaviours, Menon said. This includes managing key client relationships, overseeing the agency and its recently launched proprietary process, Adaptive Marketing, a real-time paid-owned-earned media framework designed for brand campaigns. “[Wittenberger's] digital expertise will be a key part of bringing Adaptive Marketing to life,” Menon added.

Wittenberger joins Mindshare Malaysia from OMD Slovakia where he was MD since 2009. He started his media career with independent agency CIA Austria in 1999. He then joined OMD Austria as senior media manager. After a two year stint with Universal McCann he returned to OMD Austria as client services director responsible for covering strategic planning and media negotiation, as well as coordinating Pan-European campaigns for international clients.

As MD of OMD Slovakia, Wittenberger focused on digital media, innovation and creativity in the strategic process. He has worked with more than 30 clients including Pepsi, Shell, Nissan, Sony, McDonald’s, Hasbro, Johnson & Johnson, HP, Tesco, Henkel and Reebok.