HUMAN Security, Inc., a cybersecurity company that protects organizations by disrupting digital fraud and abuse, just announced the release of its 2023 Enterprise Bot Fraud Benchmark Report. The annual report provides insights into automated attack trends across enterprise use cases, including account takeover, brute forcing, carding, credential stuffing, inventory hoarding, scalping and web scraping.
Remote work, home office or hybrid work, have become the norm in today's business world and that most likely will stay that way. But the more employees work remotely, the greater the company's risk of falling victim to a cyberattack, making a sophisticated and multi-layered security concept the more essential for any company.
F5's latest Curve of Convenience 2023 report shows data security taking a back seat with APAC consumers, with an increased willingness to save and share personal payment data on multiple platforms.
Akamai Technologies, Inc. announced entering into a definitive agreement to acquire Neosec, an API detection and response platform based on data and behavioral analytics.
Google and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) announced a strategic collaboration to bolster Singapore’s cyber resilience. This partnership covers four key pillars: threat intelligence sharing, joint operations, technical collaboration, and ecosystem development.
The global technology intelligence firm ABI Research just announced the release of Research Spotlights, suites of research focused on key technologies and trends within the vast ABI Research Library.
SenseTime hosted a Tech Day event, sharing their strategic plan for advancing AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) development through the combination of "foundation models + large-scale computing" systems. The leading AI software company is focused on creating a better AI-empowered future through innovation and committed to advancing the state of the art in AI research, developing scalable and affordable AI software platforms that benefit businesses, people and society as a whole.
Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot earlier this year, which will bring powerful new generative AI capabilities to apps millions of people use every day like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams and more.
Prioritizing which vulnerabilities to fix is a challenge for software developers, and the complexities of modern apps and the software supply chain have only made things more difficult. SentinelOne, a global leader in AI security, is partnering with Snyk, the leader in developer security, to ease the burden by integrating Singularity Cloud Workload Security, its real-time Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) with the Snyk Developer Security Platform.
Microsoft has released its fourth edition of Cyber Signals, highlighting a surge in cybercriminal activity around business email compromise (BEC), the common tactics employed by BEC operators, and how enterprises can defend against these attacks.
Three prominent digital services companies in Asia – Digile Technologies, Reveron Consulting, and Innopia Global – have merged to create a digital services powerhouse with a formidable presence in the Asian region.
A new study from Juniper Research forecasts that the greatest merchant losses to fraud will be via remote physical goods purchases, with losses reaching $5.1 billion across emerging markets in 2028, up from $1 billion in 2023.
Vigilance is urged during this 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as “AI generated scams enhance the threat to this year’s festive shoppers, as it’s revealed over 7 in 10 British people worry that AI will make it easier for criminals to commit online fraud” – NCSC.
But while AI scams like voice cloning, romance scams, and language mimicking are on the rise, “93% of the biggest spenders, millennials aged 24-35, plan to shop during this coming weekend. And they spend an average of $419.52 per person.” But with cyber security threats at an all-time high, how can shoppers and businesses stay cyber safe?
Here are our top tips for staying safe online, and the preventative measures that can be taken while shopping for your latest bargain.
Be Aware of Phishing & Quishing Attacks
SecurityHQ analysts have recently observed a significant increase in Business Email Compromise (BEC), regarding phishing attacks containing QR code (Quishing) and captchas for credentials harvesting. Quishing attacks usually occur via the scanning of a QR code. This technique involves tricking users into scanning a QR code using a mobile phone. The QR code then redirects the user to a phishing or fake website that aims to steal their credentials.
Read more about Quishing, and how to spot QR Code vulnerabilities, here.
Read the Small Print
If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. While Black Friday deals can offer huge discounts that are genuine, people still need to make money. Anything ridiculously cheap is a red flag.
What to look for:
It is worth checking the reputation score of retailers to determine if that retailer can be trusted.
A website with no company address, descriptions or specifications on items are all red flags. Look for the details. And do not base purchases solely off star ratings, as these can be fake.
Pop-ups that offer free electronics are obvious scams, containing malicious phishing links, and should be avoided at all costs.
Read the small print. Often cons are perfectly visible if you know what to look for. Like seeing a picture of a laptop being advertised, going to buy said laptop for a reduced rate without reading the small print, and receiving a literal picture of a laptop in the post. The devil is in the detail.
Use Reputable Websites/Companies
Tried and Tested – Using websites that are globally known is a good way to avoid any nasty surprises. Even if it is a couple of pounds more, it is worth knowing where your money is going and that your purchase will be tracked and delivered.
Use Antivirus Software that will warn you of potentially dangerous sites in search results as well.
Look For Suspicious Emails, as well as suspicious calls and text messages. Never click on a link you are unsure of, and never provide personal information over the phone. Read more on email security, here.
Stop, Look, Check, Pay
Secure Sockets Layers (SSL) are used to ensure data is encrypted before being transmitted across the web. It is also an indication that an organization has been verified. Keep an eye out for HTTPS in the address bar rather than HTTP, as this highlights a site uses SSL.
Make Sure the Website That You Intend to Shop on is Not a Copy of a legitimate one. Verify that the date and name of the organization are consistent with the site you are visiting. And look for typos in the URL. Your best bet it to go directly to the website yourself, and do not access it through links on other sites/emails.
When using public Wi-Fi, use a VPN as the most effective way to stay safe and so that hackers do not steal your personal data while you are on an unsecure network.
Check Your Bank Account
Use a credit card or payment method which offers protection (i.e., PayPal).
Check your accounts regularly for fraudulent activity.
Only provide enough details to complete your purchase (no extra details required)
Keep Your Passwords Safe & Don’t Use Default Credentials
Default credentials used by applications and appliances are often published on the internet. This can be a big problem. An attacker will typically first scan your network to see where they can move next. If an attacker was lucky enough to identify applications or appliances with default credentials enabled, it won’t take them long to hunt on the internet for these published credentials. Read how to detect default credentials, here.
Finally, keep your passwords safe. Read this blog on password protocols to learn more. Don’t let cyber scams ruin your festive fun this winter!
At its Experience ‘24 conference, Medallia, Inc. announced four ground-breaking innovations that will fundamentally alter the way organizations can personalize customer and employee experience
New research commissioned by IBM found that about 42% of enterprise-scale organizations (over 1,000 employees) surveyed have AI actively in use in their businesses. Early adopters are leading the way,
Zendesk, Inc. today released its annual Customer Experience(CX) Trends Report, the findings of which signal a rapid transition towards intelligent CX. In this era, the shift to AI-driven service will
IBM announced plans to expand its relationship with Amazon Web Services to help more mutual clients operationalize and derive value from generative artificial intelligence.
Yahoo Advertising announced a new integration with Twilio Segment Customer Data Platform (CDP) to drive greater advertising reach and relevance, without relying on third-party cookies.
Google and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) announced a strategic collaboration to bolster Singapore’s cyber resilience. This partnership covers four key pillars: threat intelligence
SSH Communications Security announced the expansion of its marketing team with the addition of Timi Petersen as chief marketing officer and Max Nyman as vice president of global marketing.
Both new hires bring a depth of international experience and marketing expertise to their roles:
• Timi Petersen is responsible for brand development, content creation, and marketing communications. He is an experienced creative director with extensive know-how in business-to-business categories. Petersen has a strong background in marketing communication, serving as both a strategic and creative resource for national, regional and global clients across a variety of industries.
• Max Nyman will oversee outbound and inbound marketing, as well as investor and influencer communications. With broad experience in the advertising and marketing fields, he is adept at using marketing communications to target audiences in a variety of technology fields. Nyman spent 15 years in the advertising business, working for large network agencies and small startups as well. He has also worked for organizations including Stonesoft, Intel Security and Comptel.
Harri Koponen, CEO, SSH Communications Security, said: "As cyber security issues continue to make headlines, the need for security solutions has never been greater. As we expand into new markets, we need key individuals in place who can effectively tell our story and communicate our differentiators. We are confident that Timi and Max are these key individuals, and we welcome them to the team."
Huawei Technologies - Kuwait, a global leader of ICT solutions, has signed an agreement with SLA Mobile, a leading mobile solutions provider, to bring Direct Operator Billing services for Android WAKTI Games and Apps Store to Zain Kuwait subscribers.
Debuted in May 2014 and based in Dubai, Wakti is the dedicated gaming and application platform of Huawei Kuwait. Wakti has become a world leading android app store, committed to providing quality applications, tailored to the needs of the user.
SLA Mobile will connect Huawei Kuwait to Zain Kuwait subscribers through Direct Operator Billing, which is also known as Carrier Billing, allowing Zain’s subscribers to purchase digital content from the store by charging the amount to their prepaid credit or monthly bill. It is widely regarded as one of the safest digital payment options as there is no need for bank or credit card details.
Adiant, owner of Adblade and IndustryBrains, the largest content-style native ad platform on the web, announced the launch of AdSolutions.
Having worked with top agencies and brands for many years, Adblade sees the enormous pressure online marketers feel to deliver successful campaign results to both internal and external stakeholders. In recognizing the challenges that exist in the industry, Adblade has developed a suite of products and services that allow serious online marketers to execute native advertising campaigns faster, easier and with more flexibility. AdSolutions is designed to support an agency or brand in the process of creating successful campaigns from inception and execution to optimizing and final reporting, including everything from specialized daily account optimization and management, flexible ad units, robust reporting, built in fraud protection, multiple targeting options and competitive pricing.
NextBee offers the VIP club program to boost customer loyalty and repeat purchases. By enrolling the most high performing customers, NextBee's clients can increase their lifetime value.
The VIP Club Program is customized entirely around the business' needs. With a range of features that allow brands to change almost every program metric, they can optimize their program for best results at every stage. NextBee offers to let brands register their most valuable customers either, manually or automatically, into a VIP Club that offers them access to exclusive rewards. Brands can personalize customer experience entirely with NextBee's communication tools. Auto-responders allow brands to develop messages for goal achievements, points credit, expiry of reward points earned, and more.
Marketing managers can use NexBee's one-click triggers to develop separate messages to congratulate on special occasions, and inform or send contest notifications based on customer profile. The tools help brands build customer loyalty. They can send emails with personalized vanity links that enable referral tracking and allow brands to measure referrer performance. The high performing customers can be easily identified and rewarded for bringing leads. NextBee offers a robust rewards platform that supports almost any kind of reward: cash, electronic gift cards, downloadable and physical items, and more. Brands can develop unlimited reward combinations to engage customers at every program stage.
NextBee's digital VIP Club badge offers customers social recognition and boosts their performance. Customers strive to maintain their place in the club by sending ore referrals, increasing their order values and buying frequently. They can even share their new status with their friends and family on social networks with social sharing widgets.
A tiered rewards structure has proved highly effective in motivating customers to develop activity and increase their performance. With incrementally increasing rewards with higher tiers, NextBee captures customer interest and encourages them to scale levels and gain access to exclusive rewards.
With NextBee's smart tools, brands can also develop surveys and feedback forms especially for the VIP Club members. These invite customer opinion and make them feel valued. Customers can be offered ad-hoc points during or after customer support calls for encouraging them to interact frequently with the brand and provide insightful customer data on their interests.
The Asia Pacific Effie Awards has announced the remaining 2 Heads of Jury who will be joining the Judging Committee for the 2015 Awards.
Lisa Ransom is the Vice President Marketing of McDonald’s, overseeing Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Her career with McDonald’s started in 1995 when she began work with DDB in Australia, and McDonald’s was her client. In 1997 she moved over to the client side of the business and has since held roles in McDonald’s Marketing in Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and most recently moved to Singapore. In her time at McDonald’s, Lisa has led Marketing, Strategy, e-Commerce and Menu Innovation across multiple markets in the Asia Pacific region and now leads the Marketing function in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and African region - a diverse region of 38 countries and over 9,500 restaurants.
Passionate about brand building and great creative, Lisa shared on her appointment, “I am really pleased to be joining the APAC Effies as a Head of Jury. This will be my first opportunity to be a part of the Effies beyond creating submission, and I am excited to be involved on the other side of the process and to have the opportunity to see a broad range of work from across the region. This is a region of growth, innovation and creative diversity and I know we will be seeing some great work.”
Tomaz Mok is the Chairman of McCann Erickson China and possibly the most loyal advertising veteran who serves one agency network over thirty years, Tomaz has held 3 roles across 3 regions, 7 cities and 7 offices, and worked on numerous world known brands of Automobile, Food & Beverage, Communications, IT / High Tech, Financial Institutes, Hotel / Airlines categories during his career. He is an advisor to the Effie Greater China Awards and has been actively engaging with its activities in the last decade. Tomaz is also the founder of LongXi International Chinese Awards, an advisor and jury member for many others. He is often giving talks on advertising and related topics at forums and ad events across different provinces in China. Tomaz is now stationed in Shanghai with focus on Coca-Cola and GM brands - Chevrolet and Cadillac.
Together with the 2 Heads of Jury announced previously, this completes the Judging Committee headed by the 2015 APAC Effie Awards Chairman, Jarek Ziebinski. The 4 Heads of Jury will be bringing with them a wealth of experience across the region and will be leading the jury members in determining the most effective marketing communication works in the Asia Pacific region.
Adobe is strengthening its investment in partnership support for the APAC region, naming Vince Lui as Head of Strategic Partnerships for Southeast Asia.
Lui, the former regional head of XM Asia Pacific, contributed to XM being named Adobe’s partner of the year in 2013 and 2014. He will report to Damon Scarr, Adobe's Director of Partner Sales APAC, and will oversee Adobe’s strategic partner relationships across the region.
After beginning his career at Citibank and Ion Global, Lui has worked with more than 15 major brands developing Adobe Marketing Cloud implementations. He specializes in partnership management, business solutions consulting, digital marketing technology and user experience design.
PERFORM, one of the leading digital sports content groups, and Reuters, the world's largest international multimedia news agency, unveiled a long-term global strategic partnership that will see the two companies syndicate and distribute content across their respective platforms.
The groundbreaking alliance will see Reuters sports footage integrated into Omnisport Ready, PERFORM’S digital sports video news service.
Omnisport’s Ready video feed offers digital publishers the most essential fully produced sports video content from around the globe, completely pre-voiced and page ready. The partnership with Reuters means that Omnisport Ready Video now also incorporates and voices multiple stories from Reuters News Agency on a daily basis, creating an even more compelling global offering in multiple languages ideal for digital publishers. Reuters content is created by 2,600 journalists in more than 200 locations around the globe, providing unparalleled international and national news coverage with speed, impartiality and insight.
The content will also be available via ePlayer, PERFORM’S market-leading embeddable video player for publishers, and Reuters will also have its own non-sports video news channel within ePlayer.
Furthermore, Omnisport Uncut, the 24/7 sports video news service for broadcasters, will now be available to Reuters broadcast news customers. Omnisport’s Uncut video feed delivers raw, unedited content for broadcasters to incorporate into their news and sports programming. The feed contains match action highlights, news and press conferences, and viral clips from across the sporting spectrum.
Unify, a leading communications software and services firm, announced that Dr. Stefan Ried has joined as Head of Technology Strategy and Chief Technology Officer, Product House.
Ried will be instrumental in helping Unify to drive the latest technology trends in cloud, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and the Internet of Things.
Ried has 20 years of experience in leading-marketing and software product development. Prior to joining Unify, he was Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, where he advised leading CIOs and software vendors about cloud platforms, the Internet of Things, and emerging business models, such as cloud broker. Ried also previously worked as Senior Vice President of Netweaver Product Management at SAP and as Vice President of Product Management at Software AG. He studied Physics in Stuttgart and owns a PhD granted by Max Planck Institute.
Ruckus Wireless, announced that Mr. Kash Shaikh has joined the company's executive management team as its new vice president of global marketing.
Shaikh will lead the Ruckus Wireless marketing organization worldwide, including corporate, product, technical, field, channel and regional field marketing, in addition to demand generation, field training, marketing communications and events.
Reporting to Dan Rabinovitsj, chief operating officer for Ruckus Wireless, Shaikh will oversee the strategic management of global marketing initiatives to help drive Ruckus thought leadership, brand awareness and product adoption, continuing to grow and expand the successful brand equity Ruckus has achieved in the industry that sets the company apart from its competitors.
Shaikh brings more than 18 years of marketing and management experience in the networking industry to Ruckus. He previously served as vice president of Platform Marketing and Business Development for Riverbed Technology, responsible for leading their portfolio marketing and technology alliance organizations. Prior to Riverbed, Shaikh held several executive and leadership roles, including at HP (Networking division), Cisco, and BayNetworks/Nortel, where he helped successfully build and grow multi-billion dollar networking businesses in technology domains including wireless LAN (WLAN), switching, routing, security and SDN products.
SONIFI™ Solutions, the leader in comprehensive, innovative, flexible and dependable digital engagement and technology solutions for the hospitality and healthcare industries, announced that it has named media and technology veteran, Ahmad Ouri, as Chief Executive Officer.
Ouri brings a tremendous wealth of experience and knowledge in technology, marketing, operations, and sales to his new role as SONIFI CEO. During his 13-year tenure with digital innovator Technicolor, Ouri held multiple leadership roles including CEO of IZ-ON Media (Technicolor's Digital Signage Division), Chief Marketing Officer, and President of Digital Cinema and Content Services divisions, which managed worldwide visual effects, post-production and distribution services. Prior to Technicolor, Ouri spent eight years with Philips Electronics.
TeamQuest, a global leader in IT Service Optimization, announced the appointment of Bill Andruss as Chief Technology Officer.
Mr. Andruss will be responsible for providing leadership, strategy, development and management of all engineering and technical support activities at TeamQuest. He brings more than 25 years of experience leading teams to develop new and emerging enterprise software products, which includes managing remote and cross-cultural teams working on predictive analytics and Big Data initiatives.
He previously served as Director of Software Engineering for the Office of the CTO at EMC. In prior roles, Mr. Andruss was responsible for managing a highly visible and influential team of technically focused software architects and developers. He also served as a Director of Software Engineering for a Fortune 200 company where he provided strategic thought leadership to drive the research and development of emerging technologies to develop new products and services to expand the company's business footprint.
Christina Bertinelli, a communications industry veteran and brand reputation expert, has joined Lumentus as a senior partner providing strategic client counsel and direction around all earned, owned and shared activities and communications programs, with an emphasis on financial services.
Bertinelli brings decades of experience in communications, crafting corporate client profiles for the financial and investor communities. She has performed key communications roles in some of the market's most significant mergers and acquisitions including Sears and Kmart, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and BankOne, and high profile IPOs such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Charter Communications.
Bertinelli will work with key Lumentus financial services clients, which include hedge funds, private equity firms, asset management firms and global insurance companies, among others, to promote and protect their digital reputations. Lumentus' digital reputation practice is noteworthy for leveraging online media to create differentiation and improve investor and public perception in addition to combating digital attacks and online fraud. Based in Lumentus' Madison Avenue headquarters, she is backed by creative, technical and digital experts there and in the firm's Seattle office.
Previously Bertinelli was a partner and general manager at Instinctif Partners, a communications consultancy based in London. In that role she established and ran Instinctif's New York office, growing it to a multi-million dollar practice and serving many blue chip companies including Thomson Reuters, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and J.C. Flowers & Co. Before Instinctif, Bertinelli was a vice president at Go Productions, a leading event production and management firm, where she produced numerous investor conferences, roadshows and merger announcements. Christina also spent seven years at Broadstreet, the strategic communications agency for the financial industry, where she specialized in the financial communications for funds and alternative investment firms including Apollo Global Management, Andor Capital Management and Investcorp; organizations such as UBS, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Time Warner, and REITS and real estate firms including Vornado Realty Trust, Kimco and Related Companies.
Rogers Communications announced the appointment of Dirk Woessner to be President of the Consumer Business Unit, effective April 6, 2015.
Woessner joins Rogers from Deutsche Telekom (DT) in Germany. Prior to DT, he worked at McKinsey & Company in Munich and Madrid from 1997 to 2002, consulting to Europe's leading telecommunications companies. Woessner has extensive experience in the communications industry and leading a winning consumer market strategy.
As President of the Consumer Business Unit, Woessner will be responsible for delivering the company's Consumer business strategy, including product development, sales channel operations, pricing and customer base management. He will report to CEO Guy Laurence and be a member of the Executive team.
Woessner has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Humboldt-Universität inBerlin and a Masters in Chemistry from the Technische Universität in Munich. Woessner will succeed Rob Bruce, who announced his plan to leave Rogers after more than a decade with the company.
To accommodate evolving broadcast needs in today's fast paced media environment, Telstra launched Global Media Switch - a professional video delivery platform that allows broadcasters and content creators to schedule, manage and distribute video in real-time across the world.
A highly resilient, IP-based delivery network, Global Media Switch provides customers with codec-level connectivity directly from the originating content source all the way to the broadcast destination.
Jim Clarke, Director of Marketing, Products and Pricing, Telstra Global Enterprise & Services, said: "With new models of on-demand consumption and audience fragmentation, media companies have had to make some substantial changes to the way they acquire, distribute and manage media assets. In this new era, staying profitable requires fresh thinking and adaptive approaches to technology. With the Global Media Switch web portal, video contributors can take direct control of service booking, scheduling and delivery to broadcasters themselves in a cost effective way, and even advertise content to other media providers to further maximise revenues.” "This launch follows Telstra's recent acquisition of Ooyala, a leading innovator in premium video publishing, analytics and monetisation. Both initiatives expand on Telstra's growing media solution portfolio and are proof of our commitment to investing in purpose built solutions for the media industry, to support the shift in business and operating models due to changes in viewer behaviour," Mr Clarke concluded.
Landing page creator app Lander and digital marketing software provider Marketo are teaming up to make it even easier to capture leads on your website.
With Lander's form-building tool, you can create relevant fields for leads to fill out based on the information you need to collect to get in touch with individuals in the future. This is great if you target multiple customer segments and want to split up your data based on different contact and information categories. With Marketo, you can manage your leads more effectively.
In an effort to improve advertising media quality for consumers and brands alike, MediaMath has partnered with Integral Ad Science, the leading global provider of actionable advertising intelligence for buyers and sellers of digital media.
MediaMath clients can now take advantage of Integral's pre-bid targeting solution, Bid Expert, as well as its TRAQ (TRue Advertising Quality) media quality score within the TerminalOne Marketing Operating System™ to improve brand safety, viewability, fraud detection, and overall media quality. This partnership will further enable marketers to control the quality and maximize the value of every impression to help ensure the greatest impact. Coupled with MediaMath's market-leading campaign management tools and intelligent machine-learning algorithms, media quality data from Bid Expert will reinforce marketers' ability to optimize towards desired business outcomes and combat those who perpetrate the exploitation of digital advertising.
Leaders in the space, MediaMath and Integral are dedicated to evolving an ecosystem that provides value and transparency to all participants. Beyond providing tools to help marketers ensure high-quality environments for their advertising, both are strongly committed to continuing to educate the industry on best practices for mitigating risk, optimizing performance, understanding the truths around factors like viewability, fraud, and delivering the actionable data and insights that marketers demand.
Digimind, a leading global social media monitoring company, announced a strategic partnership with Hootsuite , the world's most widely used social relationship platform.
This product integration will offer brands a comprehensive social media listening and engagement solution from one unified interface in order to manage their social media strategy more efficiently. Data from Digimind's sophisticated analytical engine will now be easily accessible from Hootsuite's engagement and publishing platform, allowing enterprises to make more informed decisions about their social strategy and engage with customers instantaneously.
comScore. announced the U.S. launch of Video Metrix® Multi-Platform that will provide unduplicated desktop, smartphone, tablet and over-the-top (OTT) video audience measurement for content owners, agencies and advertisers.
This evolution of comScore's leading digital video measurement product, Video Metrix®, will enable clients to sell, plan and buy digital video – at the video media property and show level – using TV-comparable metrics for both video content and advertising.
Featuring a completely redesigned HTML5 user experience, users have instant access to their projects and digital assets with the ability to customize the interface and find the information they need immediately.
As the storage and management of information has evolved, business, marketing, competitive and technology demands are requiring a transformation of the digital media supply chain, making digital asset management (DAM) integral to success. OpenText Media Management offers customers a DAM platform to support the evolving digital supply chain within an enterprise-grade, workflow oriented, create-to-consume ecosystem. With OpenText Media Management, organizations can securely manage and control their valuable digital assets and brand image as well as use digital assets throughout the enterprise and across all channels to reach customers.
Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) Singapore has appointed Ogilvy veteran Chris Riley, currently Managing Director for IBM Brand Services, to the Group Chief Operating Officer (COO) post, effective immediately.
Riley takes over the COO position from Giri Jadhav who was promoted to Vice President, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Asia Pacific, in September 2014.
In the COO role, Riley will partner with Fiona Gordon, O&M Singapore Group Chairman, on the strategic leadership and management of the O&M Singapore operations as the Group further develops its offerings in data and customer engagement, and continues to serve as a vital global hub for the O&M network in Asia Pacific. In addition to his new COO responsibilities, Riley will continue to lead O&M’s IBM relationship across the region, a position he has held since 2011.
Prior to this appointment, Riley held various positions in Singapore including Managing Director, IBM Brand Services from 2011, Regional Director of OgilvyOne South Asia from 2009, and Managing Director of OgilvyOne Singapore from 2004.
Grey Beijing welcomes Oliver Xu as Managing Director.
With 22 years in the business, and a series of senior leadership roles at top agencies such as JWT, Saatchi & Saatchi and BBDO Beijing, Oliver Xu is a respected professional.
In addition to leading Grey Beijing as Managing Director (MD), Xu will also be running Grey Group’s integrated services in China - taking on the newly created title, Chief Integration Officer.
Grey Beijing has enjoyed significant growth in recent years with the team appointed as the lead creative agency for Mengniu, GSK and Futon Automobile as well as winning a raft of new business.
The acquisition of ArtM in May 2013 has bolstered the agency’s shopper marketing and activation capabilities. Xu’s additional role as Grey’s CIO will have him overseeing the deployment of these capabilities across the region.
MediaMath announced the appointment of Yusuke Yokota as Japan Country Manager.
Yokota brings a wealth of experience gained from operating across multiple digital advertising disciplines in his extensive career spanning more than 20 years. He comes to this Tokyo -based role from one of Japan's leading digital advertising sales businesses, IREP, where he led a 50-strong sales team.
Prior to IREP, he held leadership roles at Nextag, Tradedoubler, and Overture, as well as digital advertising positions at media agencies Publicis, Hakuhodo, and Grey Worldwide. Yokota will be responsible for strengthening MediaMath's presence across the region, and developing relationships with current and prospective clients.
Adknowledge, Inc., a leading U.S.-based advertising technology company, has entered into a strategic alliance with Axiata Digital Advertising, a subsidiary of telecom giant Axiata Group Bhd, one of Asia’s largest telecommunications companies.
The venture, Adknowledge Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, boosts Adknowledge’s expansion plans in Asia Pacific, and strengthens Axiata’s mobile advertising presence among the region’s more than two billion users.
Adknowledge will work with businesses, advertising agencies and app developers in Asia Pacific to provide data-driven advertising strategies that raise brand awareness, as well as drive sales and app installs through digital video, mobile and social media marketing.
Adknowledge’s technology will enhance mobile advertising in Asia Pacific by bringing innovative solutions to the market that are less intrusive and more intuitive, turning advertising into a contextual service rather than a business proposition.
The immediate target markets are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and India with plans to create a business presence in several other Asia Pacific countries over the next 18 months.
This new venture comes during a boom time in digital advertising. According to eMarketer, the Asia Pacific region boasts the second-biggest share of digital ad spending worldwide, with a predicted $47 billion to be spent on digital advertising in 2015. Given the proliferation of smart devices, more consumers are spending their time online, which is driving rapid growth in digital advertising.
Outbrain, the world’s leading content discovery platform, announced the appointments of Anthony Hearne as Regional Director, SEA, India & New Markets, and Gulshan Verma as General Manager, SEA & India to drive Outbrain’s expansion into other Asian markets in 2015.
Anthony Hearne has spent the past 20 years serving in various marketing functions across agency, client and publisher businesses. His most recent role before Outbrain was Marketing Director of NewsCorp’s paid content strategy in Australia. Prior to NewsCorp, Anthony spent seven years at SingTel Optus, which included running marketing for Optus’ consumer division and a stint as Marketing Director, Virgin Mobile.
Gulshan brings to Outbrain over 15 years of experience in the digital media industry, having worked in Europe, North America and Asia. Previously the Country Manager of Outbrain India, he was responsible for leading the setup and growth of Outbrain in the country. Before Outbrain, he was with Komli Media as Chief Revenue Officer. Gulshan’s past experience also includes his roles as Director at Yahoo! in US and India, and as a consultant with McKinsey & Co in their Los Angeles office.
The recently launched Outbrain Amplify API enables marketers and their agencies to programmatically manage and measure content marketing campaigns on the Outbrain platform. It also enables marketers to seamlessly integrate their content and campaigns directly into Outbrain’s network of leading media properties, reaching a worldwide audience of more than 550 million users.
MediaMath, the creator of the TerminalOne Marketing Operating System for digital marketers, announced the appointment of Rahul Vasudev as Managing Director, APAC.
Vasudev joins the MediaMath team from MediaCom, one of the top global media agencies and the largest integrated digital agency in Asia Pacific, where he was the Head of Digital for the APAC region. He brings a wealth of regional expertise and experience to MediaMath, including an intimate knowledge of agency business and an invaluable understanding of the publisher and technology landscape. Vasudev will oversee all APAC operations and help accommodate the soaring demand for MediaMath's technology across the region.
comScore announced that Joan M. Lewis, formerly Senior Vice President of Global Consumer and Market Knowledge at The Procter & Gamble Company, has been appointed as a member of the company's Board of Directors. She will also serve on the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Ms. Lewis' appointment fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Jeffrey Ganek, a member of the comScore Board of Directors since May 2008.
Lewis worked at Procter & Gamble for more than 27 years, both in the U.S. and in Europe, most recently serving as the Senior Vice President of Global Consumer and Market Knowledge, leading insights and consumer analytics for the world's largest consumer packaged goods company.
Previously, she held a number of other leadership positions with Procter & Gamble in the market research organization, including Vice President, Global Operations and Director, North America. Lewis created Procter & Gamble's shopper research program in North America, which pioneered the creation and application of shopper insights at retail.
Lewis has served on the Board of Directors of several organizations, including the Singapore Industry Advisory Board for Consumer Insights, the Advertising Research Foundation Board of Directors, and the Business Advisory Council for the Farmer School of Business at Miami University. She holds a B.S. from the Miami University of Ohio.
RealNetworks announced the appointment of Marjorie Thomas as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer effective February 4, 2015.
Ms. Thomas will oversee all financial operations at RealNetworks, reporting to Rob Glaser, Real's Chairman and CEO. She will be succeeding Tim Wan, a 14-year RealNetworks veteran who recently relocated to the Bay Area. Her career spans nearly 30 years and includes senior finance roles at Intuit, Sony, and Hewlett-Packard. Most recently, she served as VP of Corporate Finance and Treasurer for financial software leader Intuit, where she managed the company's investments and capital strategy, while overseeing a team of 43 finance professionals.
Prior to Intuit, Ms. Thomas served as SVP, Finance and Corporate Controller of Sony Electronics where she was a member of the Sony Electronics Executive Committee. Before that, Ms. Thomas spent 20 years at Hewlett-Packard in several senior leadership positions. She began her career as a CPA at Arthur Andersen and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boise State University.
Talent Rover, a provider of cloud-based software built for managing the entire staffing and recruitment workflow, announced that Michael Lehman, former CFO of Sun Microsystems, has joined the Talent Rover Advisory Board and has invested in the company.
vLehman, who has over 40 years of experience growing and scaling high tech companies, will provide guidance to Talent Rover's leadership team as they continue to expand international operations and serve the world's most influential recruitment firms.
A private investor and current board member at MGIC, Solera Holdings, MapR and the University of Wisconsin Foundation, Lehman joins Talent Rover with extensive experience as a chief financial officer for high tech companies. Over the past few years, Lehman has directed the IPO readiness of two companies that are now publicly traded: Arista Networks and Palo Alto Networks.
Prior to entering the startup world, Lehman achieved recognition at Sun Microsystems, where he served two stretches as CFO after joining the company in 1987. He began his career as a CPA at global accounting firm Price Waterhouse.
Morrison & Foerster announced that partner Andrew Serwin has been named co-chair of the Global Privacy and Data Security Group. As co-chair, he will work closely with partner Miriam Wugmeister to lead the firm's rapidly growing, top-ranked practice.
MoFo's privacy practice is one of the most highly rated and recommended among law firms worldwide, handling cutting-edge issues such as the largest global data security incidents, Big Data, the Internet of Things, Cloud deals, strategic information governance, and global compliance issues.
Mr. Serwin, an internationally recognized thought leader on privacy, cybersecurity, privacy rights, privacy policy, as well as information governance and information sharing, advises multinationals and emerging companies on some of their most sensitive data security incidents, privacy enforcement and litigation matters, and has handled numerous high-profile investigations before the Federal Trade Commission and the Office of Civil Rights. Advising a diverse set of industries, he has particular expertise in health care privacy, cybersecurity, and compliance with FTC requirements, among other issues.
Mr. Serwin serves on the board of directors of the private sector of the federally funded National Cyber Forensic Training Alliance (NCFTA), an entity that functions as a conduit between private industry and law enforcement, with a core mission to identify, mitigate, and neutralize cybercrime. In addition, he serves as advisor to the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Asymmetric Warfare, and is the CEO and executive director of the Lares Institute, a think tank focused on privacy, information superiority, and national security issues.
J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) announced that Tarun Rai will succeed Colyvn Harris as CEO, J. Walter Thompson South Asia, beginning in early 2015.
Harris, 57, who has had a longstanding tenure with the company, will assume the role of Executive Director, Global Growth and Client Development.
In the role of CEO, Rai will lead J. Walter Thompson South Asia, which includes India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, as well as J. Walter Thompson’s Indian companies, including Contract Advertising, Hungama Digital Services, J. Walter Thompson Mindset, Encompass and Social Wavelength. He will report to Gustavo Martinez and work closely with Nick Romas, J. Walter Thompson Asia Pacific CFO.
Rai, 51, rejoins the company from Worldwide Media, where he held the role of CEO since 2008. Under Rai’s leadership, Worldwide Media (then a joint venture of The Times of India Group and BBC Worldwide) grew exponentially.
During his tenure at J. Walter Thompson, Rai helped build some of the world’s most reputed brands; his clients included Hindustan Unilever, Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline, Pizza Hut, De Beers, ITC, Tata Steel, Nestlé, Hero, Godrej and Kellogg’s. He is someone who understands and reflects J. Walter Thompson’s values and ethics.
Rai is an advertising and media professional with more than 25 years’ experience. He holds a business degree and is an alumnus of the London School of Economics.
Harris, who has spent 35 years at J. Walter Thompson, has been CEO of Contract Advertising and Managing Director of J. Walter Thompson Colombo, as well as holding various industry leadership roles and board positions, including President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India.
Under his leadership, J. Walter Thompson South Asia has built a formidable reputation with a diverse spectrum of traditional, mainstream, activation, events and digital marketing services capabilities, including the acquisitions of Encompass, Hungama Digital Services, Mindset and Social Wavelength. The agency also won its first Cannes Grand Prix and first Titanium Lion under his leadership, and was the highest awarded Indian agency at Cannes 2014. The company has deepened the scope and scale of the services it offers in the market, from digital to events and activation, through organic growth and acquisitions.
The International M2M Council (IMC), the largest and fastest-growing trade group serving the rapidly expanding Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine Communications (M2M) sector, announced that KORE CEO Alex Brisbourne has been voted Chairman.
KORE is the world's largest mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) dedicated to providing wireless connectivity for M2M, and Brisbourne has been selected for his experience building KORE into one of the pre-eminent independent providers of broad-based M2M service solutions. He has been a leading voice in M2M for more than 10 years, has been quoted in numerous publications and served as a presenter at leading wireless conferences.
The IMC has skyrocketed to 5,000 Adopter Members (associates), greatly exceeding all expectations, with more than 300 new professionals joining each week. These M2M innovators from OEMs and enterprises gain access to a wealth of IMC content covering everything from actual case studies to business best practices to industry news.
Members come from the energy, healthcare and logistics industries with recent growth fueled by widespread M2M adoption in automotive telematics, building & construction, industrial Internet, retail and "smart city" segments. The IMC's member base spans the U.S. and Europe, with a rapidly growing population from Asian countries.
Duo Security, a leading authentication solutions provider, announces that Jim Cyb has joined the company as Vice President of Worldwide Sales.
Cyb was most recently the Vice President of Sales at Zendesk, where he achieved 5x customer growth with 14x revenue growth leading up to the company's Initial Public Offering in May 2014. As Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Duo Security, Cyb will build a world-class sales organization to drive continued revenue growth for the company's two-factor authentication and security solutions.
DocuSign Inc. announced that Brad Brooks joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer to help more customers experience the power of DocuSigning anything, anytime, anywhere, on any device securely.
Brooks brings more than 25 years of experience leading global marketing and business strategy for blue chip technology companies – including Microsoft, Juniper Networks and AT&T Lucent Technologies – to his role at DocuSign.
Brooks is a multifaceted senior leader that joins DocuSign following more than 25 years leading multiple functions within enterprise and consumer technology companies. He most recently served as CMO and SVP of Global Marketing at Juniper Networks. Previously, Brad led product management and marketing with P&L responsibility as Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 's multi-billion dollar Windows Consumer Business. Prior to Microsoft, Brad worked at Enron and AT&T Lucent Technologies.
Brad earned his B.S. from California State University and his Masters in International Management from Thunderbird School of Management.
Persistent Systems announced the appointment of Dr. Siddhartha (Sid) Chatterjee to the position of Chief Technology Officer and will be based in the U.S.
Dr. Chatterjee received his undergraduate degree in electronics and electrical communications engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 1985 and his Ph.D in computer science in 1991 from Carnegie Mellon University.
Prior to joining Persistent, he was vice president for development and delivery integration of IBM's SoftLayer acquisition. During his 13-year career at IBM, he held multiple technical, strategic, managerial and executive positions across IBM Research, IBM Systems & Technology Group and IBM Global Technology Services. Prior to that, Dr. Chatterjee was an assistant and associate professor of computer science at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill from 1994 through 2001, and a postdoctoral scientist at the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) at Moffett Field, California from 1991 through 1994.
Buzz Points, a leader in connecting local businesses, community financial institutions and consumers through rewards, today announced the appointment of Dwayne Spradlin as Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Spradlin brings to Buzz Points deep senior management expertise in scaling fast-growth companies and capitalizing on data-empowered business models.
Buzz Points is the only merchant-funded rewards platform that works exclusively with community financial institutions and local businesses to engage mutual customers. Members earn points on every transaction by using their debit and/or credit cards wherever they shop, with bonus points awarded for shopping with local merchants. Buzz Points creates additional revenue for financial institutions and gives local businesses a turnkey marketing solution that provides the data analysis and targeted marketing technologies they need to expand their market reach, attract new business, and increase the loyalty of existing customers. In 2014 Buzz Points received a significant strategic investment from PULSE Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of Discover Financial Services, as part of a larger $19 million financing round from multiple investors.
Buzz Points' Board of Directors and Jay Valanju, Mr. Spradlin's predecessor, together recognized the timing was right to enlist an executive with experience managing the transformation of growth businesses. As part of the management team transition, Mr. Valanju has assumed the title of Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships.
In addition to Mr. Spradlin's successful tenure as President of Hoover's, a Dun & Bradstreet subsidiary that employs approximately 300 people in the Austin area, he most recently served as CEO of the Health Data Consortium in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Spradlin launched the consortium as a public-private partnership by invitation of the White House, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, leading an aggressive campaign to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. healthcare system through open health data, improved informatics and data analytics. Mr. Spradlin was also CEO of Boston-headquartered InnoCentive Inc., an internationally recognized pioneer in online open innovation and crowdsourced R&D that connects organizations such as NASA, Boeing and P&G to a global network of problem solvers from over 200 countries. Prior to InnoCentive, he served as President and COO of Philadelphia-based StarCite, Inc., as Senior Vice President of Corporate and Business Development at VerticalNet, and as Director of Emerging Technologies at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he focused on digital business transformation. A co-author of The Open Innovation Marketplace, published by FT Press in 2011, he holds an MBA as well as a BA in Applied Mathematics from the University of Chicago.
EyeLock, Inc., a market leader of iris-based identity authentication solutions, announced the appointment of Chris Ream to the new role of Chief Security Officer.
Ream will be responsible for overseeing physical and information security efforts for EyeLock.
Ream brings more than 20 years of experience in information warfare and cyber security, including an extensive history running security programs within the U.S. federal government and developing computing and network security solutions in the private sector. Prior to joining EyeLock, Ream worked with the U.S. intelligence community including elements of the Department of Defense, where he held a TS/SCI security clearance in support of global special operations.
Ream designed and developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) based firewall, known as NetDefense. The NetDefense firewall technology was sold to an industry leader and continues to form the foundation of their successful product line.
vReam earned a master's degree in corporate governance and compliance from Tulane University School of Law. He also holds two certifications from the National Security Agency – The InfoSec Assessment Methodology and InfoSec Evaluation Methodology – as well as GSEC and CISSP industry certifications.
NextBee, the US-based market leader in developing low-cost buzz marketing solutions, offers smart tools for encouraging customers to share their shopping experience with their professional and personal networks. Social media integration allows customers to personalize their feedback and post their comments instantly on almost every social media network, spreading awareness efficiently in the most cost-effective way.
NextBee's proven buzz marketing techniques allow customers to import email contacts from various social media sites and send referrals easily. Easy contact import feature facilitates referrals and encourages customers to send more referrals. This increases relevant traffic to the business' website.
Dynamic leaderboards motivate users to perform more and stay atop the rankings. Brands can also offer NextBee's digital badges to increase users' performance. Smart tools let businesses build exciting contests and sweepstakes, which invite valuable customer information.
Buzz marketing solutions allow you to pro-actively recruit social influencers and offer VIP access to keep them active and motivated. Auto-responders and one-click trigger messages dramatically reduce brands' marketing expenditure by bridging communication gap with customers.
Keeping track of customer activities is easy with NextBee's smart analytics. NextBee embeds tracking codes in referral links to measure referral performance and customer engagement. Mobile friendly pages ensure the program stays accessible on all devices. NextBee also offers complete assistance in building a rewards structure that is optimized to the brand's needs.
NextBee's Buzz Marketing solutions gives an edge to brands' marketing efforts and spread awareness by increasing businesses' reach and driving high-quality traffic to their website. Smart tools brings like-minded audiences together and transforms them into loyal brand advocates.
Hitachi ID Systems (HIDS), an analyst-recognized identity and access management (IAM) leader, announced a strategic agreement with its parent company, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd to bundle its IAM suite, which consists of Identity Manager, Password Manager and Privileged Access Manager, with select Hitachi Content Platform and Hitachi Unified Compute Platform offerings from Hitachi Data Systems.
Increasingly, the need to connect and manage a large number of distributed digital identities across the enterprise has become a key challenge facing IT decision makers. For this reason, reliable, proven IAM solutions offered by Hitachi ID Systems, are in high demand and will continue to be with industry analysts forecasting the global IAM market growing from $5.13 billion in 2013 to more than $10 billion in 2018.
ShoreTel®, the leading provider of brilliantly simple phone systems and unified communications (UC) solutions, announced its Innovation Network has grown to 85 partners who leverage ShoreTel's open architecture to develop hardware, software, and services that extend the capabilities of ShoreTel's UC and enterprise contact center solutions.
ShoreTel technical experts support customers, systems integrators, technology providers and software developers in building advanced, integrated applications on ShoreTel's open platform using commonly known and widely accepted techniques. Application developers and member partners collaborate freely, and then offer hardware, software and services that together greatly enhance and enrich communications across the enterprise and deliver on the promise of Voice over IP.
Recent additions to the ShoreTel Innovation Network have been:
ADTRAN: ADTRAN® enterprise Session Border Controllers (eSBCs) are now part of the ShoreTel Innovation Network. This certification enables dealers to ensure seamless solution integration as they build and deploy hardware, software and services with best-in-class technology. ADTRAN eSBCs are designed to simplify the management and interoperability of customer premises equipment and the service provider network. The comprehensive solution offering provides the tools necessary to normalize, secure and troubleshoot SIP to SIP communication for services ranging from hosted VoIP to native SIP trunking.
Bell Canada: ShoreTel users in Canada can select Bell Canada SIP trunking, which provides a gateway to the public switched telephone network through their IP network, allowing voice calls to run over a single data backbone through a core network. Bell SIP trunking is offered over Canada's largest and most advanced MPLS network, with 70 percent more points of presence than the nearest competitor and Ethernet service leveraging the industry-leading Bell fiber optic network offering high levels of reliability.
ClearOne: ClearOne's CONVERGE® Pro VH20, a SIP-based VoIP endpoint DSP unit for professional conferencing systems, is validated to interoperate with ShoreTel's VoIP server. ClearOne® has completed the interoperability testing and created special configuration for this interoperability. Customers can confidently install CONVERGE Pro units that interoperate with ShoreTel VoIP systems to allow the CONVERGE system to connect directly with ShoreTel's IP-based telephone systems. When used in conjunction with ClearOne's AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancellation) processing, this system provides a powerful conferencing solution. This interoperability between ClearOne's CONVERGE Pro VH20 and ShoreTel VoIP system helps mutual customers to confidently install units.
Polaris Communications: Polaris Communications is an Australian-owned company that designs, manufactures and distributes high-quality headset products to the global market. Through the ShoreTel Innovation Network, Polaris has developed and tested specific product integration with the ShoreTel UC platform to enable call handling via its headsets. This integration with ShoreTel has broadened Polaris' reach in the marketplace and is a complementary fit to ShoreTel's contact center capabilities.
Xarios Technologies: Xarios Technologies call recording solution delivers enterprise call recording features and functionality to ShoreTel deployments of all sizes. Highly scalable, Xarios call recorder can monitor and record up to 1,000 trunks while at the same time being cost effective for an entry-level system. Xarios call recorders also enable extension side recording using the ShoreTel TAPI wav protocol. Today's business environment requires increasing levels of monitoring, compliance and transparency – Xarios call recorders meet this challenge by offering four key options, including call scoring, PCI compliance, call segmentation and speech analytics.
Xima Software: Xima Software's Chronicall® solution ties in directly with the ShoreTel system and provides real-time capabilities as well as granular call-level event detail information about all the calls that hit the ShoreTel switch. End customers have accurate real-time and historical data to pull from to check the overall health of their call traffic, as well as employee performance. Chronicall with standard reports provides 50 canned reports plus the unique software interface called Cradle to Grave which provides the ability to open every call and see every step a call went through. Additionally, Xima Software offers a Recording Library module that adds automatic call recording and can handle up to 200 simultaneous recordings. The recordings are compressed, easy to access, and share. Xima rounds out its offerings with Realtime Licenses and Agent Seat Dashboard licenses.
Vserv, a leading smart data led mobile marketing platform across emerging markets, announced the appointment of Shailesh Varudkar as Vice President - Global Business Operations.
Shailesh, a veteran in the telecom space, will be instrumental in boosting Vserv’s aggressive expansion plans and will be responsible for driving the company’s global business operations with a strong focus on emerging markets.
Shailesh comes with a robust sales and marketing background with 17 years of experience in developing and successfully implementing business strategies for multiple telecom business verticals including establishing ecosystems. He has previously been a key member of the Vodafone India commercial team, responsible for product management, product marketing, relationships with device makers, OS players and chipset manufacturers along with P&L responsibility of the devices vertical. He also successfully set up and ran the Value Added Services team for Vodafone India where management of the ecosystem and profitability was a key responsibility.
Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, announced that Terri-Helen Gaynor has joined the company as President and Chief Executive Officer, Asia-Pacific, effective immediately.
Gaynor succeeds Patrick Ford, who had been Chair of the Asia Pacific region since October 2012. Ford will continue as Worldwide Vice Chair and Chief Client Officer and as Chair of the Asia Pacific region through the leadership transition, serving as a senior advisor to Gaynor. Both Gaynor and Ford will report to Burson-Marsteller Worldwide Chair and Chief Executive Officer Donald A. Baer.
Gaynor's 30-year career spans the full spectrum of corporate communications, from internal communications to investor relations and marketing communications programs. She has led numerous teams on initial public offerings (IPOs), mergers & acquisitions (M&As) and takeover bids. She also has deep knowledge of the global health industry and offers vast experience counselling government officials. During her career in Asia and Australia, she served clients including Bupa, IBM, Jardine Matheson, Kimberly-Clark, Manulife, Nike, Philips and UTC Building & Industrial Systems. She will be based in Hong Kong.
For the past 12 years, Gaynor served as Managing Director and Founding Partner of Reputation Pty Ltd in Australia. While leading Reputation Pty Ltd, she specialized in corporate communications, government relations and investor relations assignments for a variety of top global brands, including Becton, Dickinson and Company; Deutsche Bank; KPMG; Marriott International; Optus; and Qantas, among many others. In addition, she advised a number of departments within the Australian government, including the departments of Education, Health, Finance, Human Services and Sport.
Before founding Reputation Pty Ltd, Gaynor spent two years with a leading global firm in Australia as an Account Director on the corporate and investor relations team, specializing in M&As and IPOs. Gaynor also advised the firm's financial services team in Greater China. Prior to that, she was an Executive Director with Forrest International, developing and implementing internal and external communications programs for clients in mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Gaynor began her career in the Commonwealth Government sector, working for 10 years in the areas of policy development, communications and training and development for various government agencies in Australia.
APAC Effie Awards 2015 appoints Ross Jackson and Chris Thomas as he first 2 of 4 Heads of Jury.
Ross Jackson is the Head of Cross-Border Business and Client Marketing for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa. He joined Visa in 2008, in the concurrent roles of Marketing Director for South East Asia and Product Innovation Marketing Director for Asia Pacific. He was appointed to lead Cross Border Business and Marketing Analytics AP before his current role. Prior to moving to Singapore, Mr. Jackson was Head of Cards (Issuing and Acquiring) for Westpac Bank, New Zealand.
His marketing and business career includes senior roles as Regional Director, BBDO in Asia Pacific, Managing Director of Colenso BBDO, Director of Clemenger BBDO New Zealand, Managing Director of Mattingly DY&R New Zealand, and Managing Partner of Euro RSCG Australia.
He holds an MBA, a post graduate Diploma in Marketing and is a Fellow of both the NZ and Australian Institutes of Management.
Chris Thomas is the Chairman & CEO of BBDO Asia, Middle East & Africa and Chairman of Proximity Worldwide. Chris entered the advertising business at Dorlands in 1984 and has since been leading teams in the various agencies he was with, including Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Ammirati Puris Linas (APL) and Lowe Lintas, where he was the Managing Director.
Chris was subsequently appointed Chief Executive of Proximity London in 2003 and in 2006, as the Chairman & CEO of BBDO and Proximity in Asia. As an advocate and strong believer of marketing effectiveness, Chris’ leadership has also led him in bringing BBDO to be one of the usual names in Effies and notably achieved the APAC Effie 2014 Agency Network of the Year Award.
The Judging Committee will be joined by two more Heads of Jury which will be announced next week.
Havas Media Group officially launched LuxHub, a global consulting specialist label that will deliver media communications and marketing support for both luxury brands and luxury audiences.
Headquartered in Milan, the network also launches with established centers of excellence in London, Paris, New York and Dubai, with further expansion plans in key markets such as Shanghai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Moscow in 2015.
The global lead for the project, fashion and luxury expert Isabelle Harvie-Watt, will oversee the strategic expansion and consulting offer for LuxHub using knowledge gained from her 14 years at Giorgio Armani, 5 years at Versace and lastly at Tods Group, running global marketing and communications. Working with the senior management team at Havas Group, Isabelle has led plans for investment in a specialist luxury division since her arrival as CEO Havas Media Group Italy in 2011.
Isabelle Harvie-Watt and the LuxHub UK team, headed by Tammy Smulders, who will also join the team as Global Executive Director, will deliver their first study on luxury and brands later this month. The project uses data from 1,000 people representing the top 10% of income earners in China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, US, UAE and UK. The findings look at luxury trends across retail, travel, home furnishings, auto, jewelry and art.
During 2015, the LuxHub consulting unit will also work alongside luxury expert teams from the Havas Creative division to incorporate creative and experiential talents with projects in association with BETC Luxe (Paris) and Havas Luxe (New York).
SLA Mobile, a global mobile solutions provider, announced an agreement with Blue Turtle Technologies (Blue Turtle), a leading IT management solutions company, to bring together managed Digital Services to the African market.
Blue Turtle is a South African Enterprise Technology company focused on optimizing, enhancing and leveraging existing IT investment. Their expertise within the IT, mobile and service management markets has given them the status of industry leaders in South Africa.
vSLA Mobile, a white labelled mobile solutions provider working with both global operators and merchants, will leverage their relationship with Blue Turtle to bring a host of managed Digital Services including Direct Operator Billing and Identity Management to the African and LATAM markets.
Bell Pottinger has announced three new senior appointments to support its continued expansion and growth in Asia.
The international communications consultancy confirmed:
• the promotion of Mark Worthington to Managing Director of Bell Pottinger Singapore. Mark will provide dedicated leadership to the 25-strong Singapore team across the Corporate and Financial Communications, and Public Affairs practices. He joined Bell Pottinger as Head of Corporate Practice in Singapore in 2012. He is a former BBC News Correspondent with more than 10 years of national and international journalism experience in Asia and Europe. He was trained on the BBC’s prestigious news trainee scheme and has also worked as an international Television News Producer for TBS Japan.
• the appointment of Graham Stewart, a former editorial leader writer and columnist with The Times in London, as Managing Director, Myanmar. He has over twenty years of experience in the media and public affairs, and spent ten years at The Times. He has worked in London, Yangon and in the financial sector in Singapore – where he provided research and corporate communications advice to a leading private investor.
• and the recruitment of John Wong, previously Head of Investor Relations at Biosensors International, who has joined to head the Financial Practice in Singapore, reporting to Mark Worthington. John Wong was Head of Investor Relations at Biosensors International for four years, and previously in charge of corporate affairs and business development at SMRT Corporation, the largest transport operator in Singapore. He is a former financial journalist with Mediacorp News.
Bell Pottinger has made substantial developments in Singapore and the wider region over the past few years, including the opening of three new offices within the past 15 months. The latest office in Yangon, Myanmar, follows the significant client base Bell Pottinger has developed in the country and provides a strong presence on the ground ahead of this year’s much anticipated elections.
The appointments in Singapore will enable Chairman Asia Piers Pottinger and CEO Asia Ang Shih-Huei to concentrate on further growth of the overall Asian business and explore opportunities in new markets.
Dinusha Wettewe has been promoted to General Manager of Grey Colombo. Her new role will see her reporting to Nirvik Singh, Chairman & CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific.
Wettewe joined Grey Colombo in 2012 as an Associate Director Client Servicing from Link Natural Products, a pioneer in manufacturing healthcare, wellness and pharmaceutical products. She is a highly accomplished advertising professional with across the board experience, including marketing and business development, account and client relationships, in addition to social and digital media management. Her time at Grey Colombo saw her developing key business relationships.
Wettewe was responsible for the first ever graffiti competition event for Nestle which went on to win a Chilli Award at the prestigious Chillies 2007 Sri Lankan Advertising Awards. Under her guidance, Unilever Sunlight won multiple awards at the 2002/2003 Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) Awards in the personal care category with the first ever locally produced Unilever Fair and Lovely TV commercial clinching a Gold.
Wettewe graduated with a Master of Business Administration from the Buckinghamshire New University (UK), an affiliation to Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Asia announced the appointment of Susumu Imata as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Viacom Networks Japan, effective 1 January 2015. In this position, Imata is based in Tokyo and reports directly to Mark Whitehead, VIMN Asia's Executive Vice President and Managing Director.
He will oversee the management and operations of the Japan office, across VIMN's brands and business including MTV, Nickelodeon, digital media, program sales and consumer products, while developing the long-term strategic plan in Japan. He succeeds Shigeo Numakura, who has retired, having been with the company for the past twelve years.
Imata will be working closely with Whitehead to seek out new opportunities that will bring VIMN’s presence in this key market to the next level, while tasked to bring in new revenue streams from Japan.
Imata's appointment as Senior Vice President and General Manager sees him returning to the MTV business in Japan. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Advertising Sales for MTV Japan Inc. from 2004 to 2007, where he delivered strong revenue growth and amplified MTV’s brand presence in the market through an enhanced multi-platform advertising sales strategy integrating TV, Events, and Digital Media offerings.
Most recently, he was Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager for FOX International Channels Japan Inc. He was also acting as a Corporate Director of FOX International associated companies in Japan, such as Star Channel Inc. and BS FOX Inc., and is a Director of Trustee of the International Advertising Association Japan. Besides that, he was the Chairman of the Cable TV Advertising Bureau Japan and prior to initially joining MTV Japan, Imata has also worked at Jupiter Programming Co. Ltd., a company of the current Jupiter Telecommunications Co. Ltd.
Worldnow, the leading provider of digital content management and monetization platforms, announced that Craig Smith has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer.
In this role, Mr. Smith will be responsible for overseeing the company's operations and will be responsible for the direct execution of its products, services, support and marketing efforts.
Mr. Smith brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in the broadcast and digital media, entertainment, and technology industries. Prior to joining Worldnow, Smith was Central & East Division Manager for Paramount, where he directed sales and marketing activities for one of the world's largest television and film libraries. Earlier in his career, he spent 11 years at Viacom, where he held various management roles in the television syndication field.
Smith holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina School of Journalism, where he studied marketing and television management.
UXP Systems, provider of the MINT Unified Services Platform for operators, has announced that industry veteran Nikos Katinakis has joined its board. Katinakis brings more than 15 years of experience in the cable and telecom markets to UXP Systems.
UXP Systems’ MINT platform simplifies their customer access journeys, while unifying and personalizing the service experience for every user, across all operator core and cloud services.
Katinakis is currently the EVP Networks and Group CTO for Reliance Jio in India. Reliance Jio is the world’s largest telecommunications start-up with an array of market changing services being offered to the market. Previously, he was the SVP of Architecture and Technology Development for Network and IT at Rogers Communications, as well as the Chief Information Security Officer, where he was responsible for the technology strategy, selection, and roadmap that guided the Rogers deployment of next generation capabilities across all access networks and all services. He also spent several years at Ericsson, and held progressively senior management positions, culminating with his role as Chief Technology Officer for Ericsson Canada.
Katinakis is a graduate of the Electrical Engineering program at McGill University, specialized in Computer Engineering with a secondary focus in Marketing Management. He holds multiple patents in the telecommunications sector.
Decision Sciences International Corporation (DSIC), an advanced technology provider of security and detection systems, announced it has appointed Dr. Gene W. Ray, former CEO of Titan Corporation, as interim Chief Executive Officer and Admiral Jay M. Cohen (USN, Ret), former Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as interim Chief Operating Officer. Both appointments are effective in January 2015, when current DSIC President & CEO Dr. Stanton Sloane assumes a leadership position in the telecommunications equipment industry.
Dr. Ray currently serves on the DSIC Board of Directors and is a very successful businessman and entrepreneur with extensive experience in technology, defense and government relations. He co-founded and led Titan Corporation, a foremost provider of comprehensive information and communication products, services and solutions for national security, as its Chairman, President and CEO for 24 years. Prior to that, Dr. Ray served as Executive Vice President of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) for 11 years.
Admiral Cohen, also a member of the DSIC Board, is a principal of The Chertoff Group. He spent 38 years with the U.S. Navy as the Chief of Naval Research, in which capacity he was responsible for the annual $2 billion+ Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology (S&T) Program. This involved basic research to applied technology portfolios and contracting and coordinating investments with other U.S. and international providers to meet war fighter combat needs rapidly. Capping off his naval career, Admiral Cohen was appointed Undersecretary for DHS S&T, where he was credited with the transformation of the office of Science & Technology. In just two short years, he put the people and programs in place to prosecute the high-tech war on terror.
The UFC®, the premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization and largest pay-per-view event provider in the world, announced the appointment of Kenneth K. Berger as its Executive Vice President and General Manager of Asia.
Berger has a proven track record of business success throughout Asia, having worked across the region for the last 25 years. With an MBA from Thunderbird, American School of International Management, Berger went on to build his career at International Management Group (IMG), where he held the position of International Vice President Asia. His responsibilities at IMG included managing the licensing division in South East Asia and then Japan, where he developed a variety of licensing programs including Major League Baseball (MLB), Wimbledon, Arnold Palmer and the British Open.
Berger later made the move to ISL Marketing as their Managing Director, Japan and then to FIFA Marketing, where he headed the FIFA World Cup marketing and event services operations. After successfully delivering the marketing rights of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he launched his own successful sports agency, Sports Marketing Japan (SMJ). For seven years SMJ worked as a licensee for globally renowned sports properties in developing branded mobile and pc sites in Japan for Serie A, NBA, NFL, PGA Tour, LPGA, UFC and ESPN.
In 2009, SMJ was acquired by Yoshimoto Kogyo, Japan's largest entertainment production entity and talent agency.
Canon, the global leader in photographic and digital imaging solutions, has become the latest Founding Partner and Official Printing & Imaging Partner of the Singapore Sports Hub,following the signing of a three-year agreement.
With this big boost to the local sporting landscape, Canon Singapore (CSPL) hopes to create a fraternity of athletes, spectators and photographers that will help Singapore achieve its goals of becoming a truly sporting nation.
Under the terms of the agreement with the Singapore Sports Hub -- a deal facilitated by World Sport Group -- CSPL will receive branding, hospitality and signage rights in recognition for its sponsorship. CSPL's support will also extend to offering Sports Hub and its consortium members its print and document management, as well as specialist outsourcing services.
Canon Singapore is an active patron of the sporting community. It recently announced that it has renewed its sponsorship agreement with SingaporeBowling for an additional two years. This came after a very successful partnership for the past six years during which SingaporeBowling achieved many significant competitive successes regionally and internationally.
In addition to supporting Singapore's sporting community, Canon has entered into this partnership as it is also in line with its corporate philosophy of kyosei. Canon actively pursues kyosei in the communities in which it operates. This includes the promotion of sporting activities that contribute to the well-being of the community. In this instance, Canon hopes to continue to nurture and develop athletes in their quest for sporting excellence and to actively help the community live healthier lives through sports.
Category: Apr–June 2023 - Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing
Microsoft has released its fourth edition of Cyber Signals, highlighting a surge in cybercriminal activity around business email compromise (BEC), the common tactics employed by BEC operators, and how enterprises can defend against these attacks.
Category: Apr–June 2023 - Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing
After years of steadily picking up steam, online learning is experiencing undeniable explosive growth. The market is racing toward $1 trillion, with the corporate e-learning space expected to skyrocket 250% in the coming years. As e-learning continues to expand beyond the walls of academia, another game-changing phenomenon is going mainstream in a big way: artificial intelligence (AI).
Category: Apr–June 2023 - Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing
Appier announces that it has integrated Generative AI (GenAI) technology into three major marketing capabilities across its product lines. By connecting its advanced GenAI algorithms with OpenAI's ChatGPT language model, Appier can leverage the power of pioneering technology to help businesses increase productivity through advertising keywords and targeting parameters generation; intelligent conversational chatbot creation; and marketing copywriting and automatic content generation.
Category: Apr–June 2023 - Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing
LG Electronics (LG) unveiled a new brand direction and visual identity, which will shed more light on the value of Life's Good with a more dynamic and youthful look across all physical and digital customer touch points.
MediaBUZZ is the first ‘pure’ digital publisher in the region, making an impact in Asia Pacific since 2004. Designed to empower marketers in the vibrant, ever-changing electronic marketing environment, its publication Asian eMarketing covers the digital age and zooms in on the most valuable and indispensable tools of today’s marketers. Circulated weekly to more than 60,000 top management and marketing decision-makers, the useful and informative articles support e-marketers in finding a sound marketing strategy, vital for their growing business success.
• Timi Petersen is responsible for brand development, content creation, and marketing communications. He is an experienced creative director with extensive know-how in business-to-business categories. Petersen has a strong background in marketing communication, serving as both a strategic and creative resource for national, regional and global clients across a variety of industries.
• Max Nyman will oversee outbound and inbound marketing, as well as investor and influencer communications. With broad experience in the advertising and marketing fields, he is adept at using marketing communications to target audiences in a variety of technology fields. Nyman spent 15 years in the advertising business, working for large network agencies and small startups as well. He has also worked for organizations including Stonesoft, Intel Security and Comptel.
Lisa Ransom is the Vice President Marketing of McDonald’s, overseeing Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Her career with McDonald’s started in 1995 when she began work with DDB in Australia, and McDonald’s was her client. In 1997 she moved over to the client side of the business and has since held roles in McDonald’s Marketing in Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and most recently moved to Singapore. In her time at McDonald’s, Lisa has led Marketing, Strategy, e-Commerce and Menu Innovation across multiple markets in the Asia Pacific region and now leads the Marketing function in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and African region - a diverse region of 38 countries and over 9,500 restaurants.
Tomaz Mok is the Chairman of McCann Erickson China and possibly the most loyal advertising veteran who serves one agency network over thirty years, Tomaz has held 3 roles across 3 regions, 7 cities and 7 offices, and worked on numerous world known brands of Automobile, Food & Beverage, Communications, IT / High Tech, Financial Institutes, Hotel / Airlines categories during his career. He is an advisor to the Effie Greater China Awards and has been actively engaging with its activities in the last decade. Tomaz is also the founder of LongXi International Chinese Awards, an advisor and jury member for many others. He is often giving talks on advertising and related topics at forums and ad events across different provinces in China. Tomaz is now stationed in Shanghai with focus on Coca-Cola and GM brands - Chevrolet and Cadillac.
Adobe is strengthening its investment in partnership support for the APAC region, naming Vince Lui as Head of Strategic Partnerships for Southeast Asia.
Unify
Ruckus Wireless
SONIFI™ Solutions
Christina Bertinelli, a communications industry veteran and brand reputation expert, has joined 
Rogers Communications announced the appointment of Dirk Woessner to be President of the Consumer Business Unit, effective April 6, 2015.
Landing page creator app 
In an effort to improve advertising media quality for consumers and brands alike, 
Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) Singapore has appointed Ogilvy veteran Chris Riley, currently Managing Director for IBM Brand Services, to the Group Chief Operating Officer (COO) post, effective immediately.
Grey Beijing welcomes Oliver Xu as Managing Director.
MediaMath
Anthony Hearne has spent the past 20 years serving in various marketing functions across agency, client and publisher businesses. His most recent role before Outbrain was Marketing Director of NewsCorp’s paid content strategy in Australia. Prior to NewsCorp, Anthony spent seven years at SingTel Optus, which included running marketing for Optus’ consumer division and a stint as Marketing Director, Virgin Mobile.
Gulshan brings to Outbrain over 15 years of experience in the digital media industry, having worked in Europe, North America and Asia. Previously the Country Manager of Outbrain India, he was responsible for leading the setup and growth of Outbrain in the country. Before Outbrain, he was with Komli Media as Chief Revenue Officer. Gulshan’s past experience also includes his roles as Director at Yahoo! in US and India, and as a consultant with McKinsey & Co in their Los Angeles office.
comScore
Harris, 57, who has had a longstanding tenure with the company, will assume the role of Executive Director, Global Growth and Client Development.
The International M2M Council (IMC)
Duo Security
DocuSign Inc
Vserv
Burson-Marsteller
Ross Jackson is the Head of Cross-Border Business and Client Marketing for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa. He joined Visa in 2008, in the concurrent roles of Marketing Director for South East Asia and Product Innovation Marketing Director for Asia Pacific. He was appointed to lead Cross Border Business and Marketing Analytics AP before his current role. Prior to moving to Singapore, Mr. Jackson was Head of Cards (Issuing and Acquiring) for Westpac Bank, New Zealand.
Chris Thomas is the Chairman & CEO of BBDO Asia, Middle East & Africa and Chairman of Proximity Worldwide. Chris entered the advertising business at Dorlands in 1984 and has since been leading teams in the various agencies he was with, including Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Ammirati Puris Linas (APL) and Lowe Lintas, where he was the Managing Director.
• the promotion of Mark Worthington to Managing Director of Bell Pottinger Singapore. Mark will provide dedicated leadership to the 25-strong Singapore team across the Corporate and Financial Communications, and Public Affairs practices. He joined Bell Pottinger as Head of Corporate Practice in Singapore in 2012. He is a former BBC News Correspondent with more than 10 years of national and international journalism experience in Asia and Europe. He was trained on the BBC’s prestigious news trainee scheme and has also worked as an international Television News Producer for TBS Japan.
• the appointment of Graham Stewart, a former editorial leader writer and columnist with The Times in London, as Managing Director, Myanmar. He has over twenty years of experience in the media and public affairs, and spent ten years at The Times. He has worked in London, Yangon and in the financial sector in Singapore – where he provided research and corporate communications advice to a leading private investor.
• and the recruitment of John Wong, previously Head of Investor Relations at Biosensors International, who has joined to head the Financial Practice in Singapore, reporting to Mark Worthington. John Wong was Head of Investor Relations at Biosensors International for four years, and previously in charge of corporate affairs and business development at SMRT Corporation, the largest transport operator in Singapore. He is a former financial journalist with Mediacorp News.
Dinusha Wettewe has been promoted to General Manager of Grey Colombo. Her new role will see her reporting to Nirvik Singh, Chairman & CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific.
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Asia announced the appointment of Susumu Imata as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Viacom Networks Japan, effective 1 January 2015. In this position, Imata is based in Tokyo and reports directly to Mark Whitehead, VIMN Asia's Executive Vice President and Managing Director.
Worldnow
UXP Systems
Decision Sciences International Corporation
