Move and win roundup: Week of July 22, 2024

Samir Singh, chair of Unilever Asia, head of Unilever Singapore Hub, and chief marketing officer for Personal Care, has announced his departure from the FMCG giant after 27 years. Singh shared the news via a LinkedIn post, reflecting on his experiences and the culture at Unilever and Hindustan Unilever. In his post, he also emphasised the significance of the company's culture and values— which aligned closely with his own—as key factors in his long tenure. A veteran marketer and widely renowned member of the industry, Singh also noted he had accepted a new role with a company he admires, with details to be announced at the end of the year following his garden leave. Samir has been a member of Campaign Asia-Pacific's Power List since 2022.

Sanjay Gupta has been appointed as the new president for Asia Pacific at Google, following Scott Beaumont's announcement of his retirement from the role yesterday, marking the end of a nearly 16-year journey with the tech giant. Sharing the news via a LinkedIn post, Beaumont reflected on his experiences and the diverse cultures he encountered while working in London, Shanghai, and Singapore. He also expressed his gratitude for his colleagues, as well as the numerous partnerships, collaborations with commercial partners, customers, entrepreneurs, governments, and NGOs. Beaumont joined Google in 2009 as the managing director for partnerships in north and central Europe, later becoming the president of Google Greater China and Korea in 2013, and eventually ascending to the role of president for Google APAC in 2019. Before his tenure at Google, Beaumont was the executive vice president of alliances and partnerships at T-Mobile and co-founded the tech startup Refresh Mobile, where he served as CEO. Since 2021, he has also been an advisor for the McLaren racing team. Meanwhile, Gupta, who was most recently the country head and vice president for India for Google in the past four years, spent 16 years at Unilever before leaving for stints at Bharti Airtel and Star India, prior to joining the tech giant.

Malaysia’s digital publisher Rev Media Group has chosen supply-side platform Magnite as its primary ad server connected to its video inventory, including Tonton and its news portals, to monetise its display and video inventory programmatically. Rev Media Group is owned by Media Prima, which publishes news and lifestyle websites like New Straits Times, Berita Harian, IGN Asia and Mashable.

Pizza Hut Singapore has appointed Juliana Lim as general manager of its operations in Singapore, effective from 12 July 2024. Lim was senior director, marketing & innovations at KFC for over nine years. She has also held roles at Fonterra and Sara Lee amongst others. Her appointment follows the retirement of Paddy Rangappa who was general manager with Pizza Hut Singapore for over six years.

Edelman China has appointed Xiaoyan Wang as its health lead. Wang will be tasked with building out the firm’s vision for the health sector, integrating its teams across disciplines to provide specialist, strategic solutions for its clients’ challenges. With nearly 25 years of pharmaceutical and marketing experience spanning consumer health, medical communications, branding, advertising and digital innovation, Wang worked at pharmaceutical companies, McCann Health, and VMLY&R Health before joining Edelman. 

GumGum, a contextual-first, global digital advertising platform, has appointed Kerel Cooper as its new chief marketing officer. Cooper joins GumGum from Group Black, where he served as president of advertising. Before Group Black, Cooper was CMO at LiveIntent. As CMO, Cooper will be responsible for leading GumGum’s global marketing strategy, fostering brand and agency adoption of GumGum’s innovative advertising solutions, and driving overall growth. 

Chep Network has been appointed as Tourism NT’s (Northern Territory in Australia) martech services partner. The contract will last for three years. Chep will oversee marketing automation, experimentation, personalisation, behavioural analytics, first-party data storage, data partnership facilitations and activations, and consent management.

Creative agency BMF has named Stephen de Wolf as its new chief creative officer. He joins BMF from DDB Australia where he spent the last three years as its national chief creative officer. He was also on the board of DDB’s Global Creative Council and served as the CCO of Smith Street, a specialist marketing agency servicing the Coles account. Prior to DDB, de Wolf was CCO and partner of BBH in London, where he also sat on BBH’s Global Creative Board. Before moving to London in 2020, he was CCO at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. DDB Sydney announced de Wolf’s departure last week. 

Justin Ruben has launched Oblong Creative as co-founder and CCO in response to the different needs of marketers and creatives. The move comes following a career spanning 25 years working at agencies in Australia and abroad including BBH NY, Droga NY, Publicis Mojo and CHEP. Before opening his own business, Ruben was executive creative director at Host/Havas. 

The Sandpiper Group has appointed Michael Rinaman as managing director, strategy. Based in Hong Kong, Rinaman will lead the development and growth of the firm’s strategy practice globally while integrating it with its digital communications and research and insights offerings. He joins Sandpiper from FleishmanHillard, where he was managing director for research and analytics in APAC and global head of analytics. He worked in the US at Hill + Knowlton Strategies, Edelman Berland, Strategy One, and Cision before moving to Hong Kong in 2022.

C27, a digital agency specialising in innovative solutions, has announced a digital collaboration with EPIC Homes, a social enterprise dedicated to the collaborative act of building homes, with a primary focus on the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia. By leveraging C27's expertise in digital solutions, EPIC Homes aims to streamline its operations and enhance outreach efforts.

Vandita Pandey, former chief marketing officer of PepsiCo ANZ for snacks and beverages, has announced her move to Dublin in a LinkedIn post following a promotion. She is moving to Ireland to be VP of marketing, international beverages, hydration business, for PepsiCo. Pandey joined PepsiCo in 2009 as an associate brand manager of Fritos in the US. She relocated to Sydney as ANZ CMO in 2020. Before PepsiCo, she worked at Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. 

Butterfly Foundation, a charity for Australians impacted by eating disorders and body image issues, has appointed Think HQ as its new communications partner after a competitive pitch process. Think HQ will support Butterfly’s strategic communications activities across media relations, media training, issues management, creative campaign development, events, and ambassador management.

Jaywing, a data, creative and performance marketing agency, has announced a number of new business wins including Crocs, Sitecore, and New Balance. The agency will work with these clients in markets like Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia across creative, digital media, SEO, and content.