Robert McBrain to replace Rishya Joseph at Y&R Malaysia

Joseph and McBrain will work together during a handover period ahead of Joseph's departure at the end of the year.

McBrain has 20 years experience in the industry, including stints at Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi. He has worked in London and Malaysia as well as Indonesia. At Bates Indonesia he led the team that won business from Telkom Indonesia and Unilever.

News of Joseph's departure had triggered fears of a staff exodus. However, Ambar Brahmachary, the Asia-Pacific CEO of Y&R, insisted that the handover would be smooth.

"Rishya and I have been talking about his plans for a while now and we were keen to find in his successor a person that not only can add to the agency’s spirit and energy but also someone who is familiar with both the Y&R Group and the local market," he said. "Y&R Malaysia is a vibrant agency in a very dynamic market, it has a long history of many firsts in our industry and has a long list of well established clients that it has been serving over the years. With their support and the industriousness and enterprise of our young team, Y&R will no doubt set new standards in marketing communications in Kuala Lumpur.”

"I’m absolutely delighted to be able to return to a city I have such great memories of," said McBrain. "I always promised myself I would return to KL one day and to be able to do so with Y&R, given, my background is a fantastic opportunity."

Joseph, meanwhile, said he was "now looking forward to perhaps finding some new challenges, all of which will of course be entirely complementary to Y&R Malaysia."