Move and win roundup: Week of June 17, 2024

Houston, a brand strategy and design consultancy, has bolstered its leadership team. Both promotions are effective immediately, reporting directly to CEO and founder Stu O’Brien.

• Gretel Maltabarow, who has been at Houston for eight years, has been promoted to managing director. She was previously group account director. She will also maintain her leadership of Houston’s account service team.
• Stacey Saunders, who joined Houston ten years ago, has been elevated to general manager. She was previously chief of staff and has held various internal agency operations roles.

Rajit Gupta has been appointed as VP and creative head for Cheil X, Mumbai, an independent full-service agency under the Cheil SWA group. He will report to Vikash Chemjong, CCO, Cheil India.  Gupta joins the team from McCann Worldgroup, where he was executive creative director. With more than 17 years of experience in the dynamic world of advertising, collaborating with top-tier brands and agencies globally, he worked with agencies like J. Walter Thompson, Publicis, DDB Mudra, and Contract Advertising. 

Burson, created from the merger of WPP-owned BCW and Hill & Knowlton, has announced market leader appointments across Asia-Pacific. 

• HS Chung, North APAC CEO and Burson Korea as CEO
• Adrian Warr, South APAC CEO, Burson, effective from September 16
• Tom Horn, market leader, Burson Australia & New Zealand
• Claire Li, CEO, Burson Greater China
• Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO, Burson Group India
• Marianne Admardatine, CEO, Burson Indonesia
• Tsuyoshi Takemura, CEO, Burson Japan
• Justin Then, CEO, Burson Malaysia
• Rikki Jones, CEO, Burson Group Singapore and President, GCI Health Asia-Pacific
• Cindy Lim, CEO, Burson Singapore
• Wachiraporn Pornpitayalert, market leader, Burson Thailand

100Plus Malaysia has appointed Havas Malaysia as its creative lead agency following a competitive pitch. The agency will now oversee all of 100Plus’ brand strategy and creativity, which will cut across thematic and seasonal campaigns throughout 2024 and 2025. The collaboration aims to drive market penetration and reinforce 100Plus’ status as an isotonic drink. 

Tonic Worldwide, India’s digital-first creative agency, has secured the digital mandate for LT Foods, an Indian-origin global FMCG company in the consumer food space, following a competitive multi-agency pitch. Marking LT Foods’ inaugural foray into digital communication, Tonic will be involved in developing digital strategies to help grow the digital identity of the corporate brand. The account will be managed by Tonic Worldwide’s Delhi office.

The Content Lab, digital marketing agency, production house and content studio, has appointed Prateek Mehta as creative director. Mehta brings a decade of experience as a marketing generalist, and has worked with agencies like Mindshare India, Mullen Lowe Lintas, L&K Saatchi and Saatchi and BBDO Vietnam. 

JCDecaux, the out-of-home advertising corporation, has appointed independent group, Seven Communications, as its sole ANZ public relations agency and will be tasked with its always-on media-relations programme, event management and upcoming campaigns. The extended partnership will see an upgrade of the media estate across Sydney Airport, officially starting on July 1, 2024 through to 2029.

Dentsu has appointed Sanchit Mendiratta as chief growth officer for SEA, in addition to promoting him to managing director for customer experience management for Dentsu Singapore. Concurrently, Trishe Goh has been promoted to senior director of growth of Merkle.  

Carat Western Australia has won media strategy, planning and buying services for building renovation and developing company Summit Homes Group.

72andSunny has appointed Miné Cakmak as head of consulting, marking her return to the agency from her previous role as group strategy director at consultancy FNDR. Alongside Cakmak, senior strategist Aviva Mann and other 72andSunny alumni have joined the team. Mann, formerly with design consultancy Landor & Fitch, brings her expertise to the agency. Additionally, 72andSunny has introduced its new global client offering, The Strategy Studio for consultancy guidance on brand growth and will be operational in the agency's 72 global locations, including Sydney, New York, Los Angeles, and Amsterdam. 

Maker Lab has appointed John Marsden as APAC business development director. Marsden joins from VaynerMedia. He has also previously delivered business impact for brands throughout APAC and EMEA, including Singapore Airlines, TWG, Unilever, Bose, Pernod Ricard, Mars, and Porsche.

Ogilvy PR has appointed Sophie Paterson to the newly created head of gaming and entertainment role in Australia. Working within Ogilvy’s consumer PR and influence practice, Paterson has been tasked with growing broader opportunities within the entertainment sector, focussing on streaming services, music, film and TV, publishing, the arts, events, and festivals, following solid sector growth and increased demand for fan engagement strategies.

Marketing agency Younion has appointed Ravi Shankar K as vice president of growth for the ASEAN market.  Shankar joins Younion's leadership team to develop growth strategies, create robust opportunity pipelines, and strengthen client relationships. His immediate focus is communicating the agency’s data-driven experiential marketing vision to APAC marketing leaders.

Cheil X has appointed Anurag Tandon as chief growth officer. Tandon will lead the newly opened Mumbai office in addition to the growth charter. With more than twenty years of experience and having led business units, like DDB Mudra West, and WT, Mumbai, he also worked for Ogilvy and Leo Burnett. In the new position, Tandon will spearhead efforts to expand Cheil X’s business operations in Mumbai. Cheil X is an independent full-service agency under the Cheil SWA group to manage the fast-growing new client mandates in India.

Harish Narayanan has joined HDFC AMC as chief marketing officer and chief digital officer. He will lead the company’s marketing and digital initiatives, driving its mission to be the wealth creator for every Indian. Narayanan brings over 17 years of experience across various sectors in multiple senior leadership roles. At Upstox, he served as chief growth officer. At Myntra, he was chief marketing officer and head of monetisation and partnerships. His career also includes nearly 12 years at Google’s YouTube marketing team and Procter & Gamble’s brand management team in Singapore.

Sydney Markets has announced a PR agency partner, Neon Black, for its suite of brands, including The Growers Market, Produce Market, Sydney Flower Market, Paddy’s Markets, Fresh for Kids and The Fresh Awards. Neon Black will spearhead strategic communications for the different brands, building their profile in the Australian market.

Avid Collective, Australia's home of native content, has announced a new structure for its senior executive team. Luke Spano, Avid’s founder and currently managing director, will move into the newly created CEO role, while Ezechiel Ritchie, currently commercial director, has been promoted to the newly created role of general manager. Ritchie joined the team in November last year, following senior leadership stints at Jellysmack, Taboola and Google. The restructure comes amid significant and sustained growth for the business. Since launching in 2017, Avid Collective has grown to become Australia’s home of native content, with its publisher network now reaching most of the Australian population across more than 140 publishers.

EssenceMediacom China has appointed Dennis Potgraven as chief strategy officer. Potgraven will be based in Shanghai, reporting to Benjamin Wei, CEO of EssenceMediacom China. Potgraven has worked across Europe, US, and Asia, and honed an expertise in integrated marketing communication and creating customer value for FMCG and retail brands. Before joining EssenceMediacom, he was chief strategy officer at Wavemaker US. And prior to that, he served as chief strategy officer of Havas Greater China from 2017 to 2021. He also worked at Havas Media Group in Amsterdam, Hong Kong as well as Shanghai.  

Former Havas Creative chief executive for India, Tarun Jha has joined JSW Steel as its head of marketing based in Mumbai. Jha announced the news via LinkedIn. "Much grateful to the all the mentors, colleagues and friends who have been part of this journey. Look forward to more meaning and purpose in everything that I do," he wrote in a post. Prior to this move, Jha worked as the India CEO for Havas Creative for just over a year—it was a newly created role. He had moved to the agency after spedning more than 15 years at automobile major Škoda Auto Volkswagen India. In a career spanning over 25 years, Jha has worked at organisations like Mahindra, Videocon Group, Ogilvy, and Mudra Communications. 

H&M has promoted Laura Pietrantonio to head of marketing and communications for Australia and New Zealand, effective immediately. Pietrantonio, who has been with the brand for nearly 18 months as ANZ’s head of PR and comms, will now be responsible for all marketing and communications activities, including media and customer insights, brand and content, PR, and internal communcations. Before joining H&M, she worked at Koala and Amaysim and Camilla Australia.

Olia Krivtchoun will join Spark Foundry Australia’s executive leadership team as chief client services officer, effective immediately. Krivtchoun has been a general manager at Publicis Groupe ANZ since last March. In the new role, she will focus on fostering inter-disciplinary connections across the agency in strategy, planning, analytics, investment, performance, data and technology, aiming to deliver high-quality solutions for clients. Before moving to Publicis Groupe roles in 2020, she served as head of CX and head of innovation at Spark Foundry Australia.

IGA (Independent Grocers of Australia) has appointed Special as their agency of record, working across brand strategy and design, advertising and communications following a competitive pitch led by TrinityP3. The IGA network consists of more than 1,150 independent family-owned businesses located in regional and metro areas across Australia. IGA is Australia’s leading independent supermarket and store owners over the country.