Move and win roundup: Week of March 24, 2025

Clemenger has won Kmart Australia’s creative account, following a competitive pitch that started last November. The incumbent is Dentsu Creative, which did not re-pitch. Dentsu won the account in 2022 and ended DDB's relationship with Kmart. Before DDB secured the account in 2020, BWM Dentsu managed the account for nearly a decade. The appointment is the first major win for Clemenger since last month’s merger announcement.

Silver Fern Farms, a New Zealand red meat company, has appointed Ogilvy NZ as its global agency partner, effective immediately, as part of an ongoing expansion into multiple overseas markets. Following a competitive pitch, Ogilvy NZ will be tasked with leading the global masterbrand development, managing a team of creatives, strategists and brand specialists from across Ogilvy’s worldwide network. The agency will work side-by-side with Designworks, which has partnered with Silver Fern Farms for the past 15 years.

Carma, a media intelligence and research solutions firm, has expanded operations to Japan, its 23rd global office. Carma Japan is spearheaded by Kenichiro Watai, a media professional with over 30 years of experience. Watai was most recently group account director at BBDO Worldwide and deputy general manager at Hakuhodo.

Pipeline360, Integrate’s media business, has appointed Joseph McCarthy as senior account director for APAC. Based in Singapore, McCarthy brings a wealth of B2B marketing industry experience to Pipeline360, having most recently served as sales director for enterprise accounts at Madison Logic. Before that, he also held key leadership roles at TechTarget and BrightTalk.

Initiative has been appointed media agency of record for healthcare company Aspen Pharmacare Australia, working across its brand portfolio of consumer healthcare brands such as Maltofer, Coloxyl, Ural and Dymadon. Initiative’s remit includes all media buying, planning and strategy.

Levande,an  Australian retirement operator, has appointed 303 MullenLowe as its new strategic, creative and branding partner, following a competitive pitch. Effective immediately, the appointment will see the agency work towards launching a long-term brand platform for Levande Retirement Living, that can also be applied across brand and retail to drive future developments. 303 MullenLowe’s remit covers brand strategy and creative, as well as brand design, PR, social, and experience.

Australian Mentoring Services (AMS), a disability support services organisation, has appointed Claxon as its digital and creative agency of record to lead brand transformation. Claxon’s remit includes creation of AMS’s new brand strategy and visual identity including design of a new and intuitive website, plus ongoing creative as the company scales up for its next evolution of growth.

Dentsu has appointed Fiona Huang as managing director, Dentsu Creative Singapore, to scale its creative business. With over 17 years of experience in driving brand-to-business growth through award-winning creative excellence and marketing effectiveness, Huang was general manager of BLKJ Havas before joining Dentsu. She worked for BBDO and DDB prior to Havas.

Edelman has named a new India CEO and APAC head of digital.  Both of them will continue to report to Rakesh Thukral, Edelman’s CEO for APAC:

• Bhavna Jagtiani has been elevated from chief operating officer, India to CEO for its India operations. Over her 22-year tenure with Edelman, Jagtiani started as an account executive and moved on to leading integrated teams across India and briefly in Hong Kong.
• Kunal Arora, managing director for India, digital and APAC studio lead, takes on an expanded role as of head of digital. Arora has been managing director, digital in India for the past 10 years. He has also managed the APAC expansion of Edelman studio.

BBDO has appointed Kazuya Nakajima as its new executive creative director in Japan. Before joining BBDO, Nakajima was the senior creative director of Grey Group Japan. Prior to that, he served as creative director at Drill and ADK. With over 20 years of experience, Nakajima began his creative career in 2000 at ADK before moving to Drill in 2014. He has won numerous advertising awards in Japan and globally and has also been a member of the jury for Cannes Lions, Adfest, and New York Festival.

Andrew Little, the president of DDB Group AUNZ, will depart in August. Little has been with the agency for 25 years since he joined in 2000 as managing director of Melbourne. 

Current New Zealand CEO Priya Patel and New Zealand chief creative officer Matty Burton will take on expanded roles for AUNZ, effective April 1. Patel will be AUNZ CEO, and Burton will move into the newly created role of CCO for DDB Group AUNZ. The duo’s partnership at DDB Group Aotearoa in New Zealand had worked together since 2021 when both of them joined DDB. Before DDB, Patel led RKCR/Y&R as managing director, while Burton was APAC creative chief, partner innovation, at Google. 

Globe Telecom, a Philippines telco giant, has appointed Roche Vandenberghe as its new chief marketing officer. Before joining Globe Telecom, she worked for over 10 years at FWD Insurance Philippines. She joined as AVP, head of brand, digital marketing and corporate communications and was most recently the chief marketing and digital business officer for FWD Insurance. Prior to FWD, she worked at TCP-TBWA\ Indonesia and BBDO Malaysia. 

In light of the upcoming merger with Chep Network and activation agency Traffik at the end of March, several key staff members from Omnicom's Clemenger BBDO have departed. Australian media reports that BBDO's chief growth officer, Anita Zanesco, and chief creative officer, Adrián Flores, have left the newly formed agency group following former CEO Dani Bassil’s resignation.  Despite the merger being announced in February, it has taken several weeks to finalise the logistics for staff. An agency-wide All Hands meeting was held last Thursday to inform employees of these changes. The announcement of new leadership for Clemenger is expected next week.