AME2014aThe Asian Marketing Effectiveness & Strategy Awards, Asia Pacific’s principal gathering of marketing, advertising, media and brand experts, announced Andrew Knott, Vice President of Digital and Media, McDonald’s APMEA; and Elaine Rodrigo, Global Director, Consumer Insights & Strategy, Mondelez International as this year’s jury presidents.

Andrew Knott, Vice President of Digital and Media, McDonald’s APMEA, will lead the Digital Strategy jury. Andrew joined McDonald's in 2012 having previously been the Chief Digital Officer for advertising agency, Euro RSCG. With a career spanning over twenty years, primarily in advertising, he was one of the early entrants into interactive space in 1995. Andrew subsequently worked across Asia at market leader Ogilvy, developing their digital offering and working with the likes of IBM, American Express & Unilever.The Digital Strategy Jury includes in addition:

• Andrew Davie, Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand, Wunderman

• Andy Joohyun Lee, Head of Global Digital Campaign, Cheil Worldwide

• Carl Griffith, Head of Digital, Havas Worldwide Singapore

• Damien Cummings, Chief Marketing Officer, Philips ASEAN & Pacific

• Dinesh Sandhu, Regional Director of Strategic Planning & Integrated Media, Hakuhodo Communications Asia

• Eddie Wong, National Executive Creative Director, Draftfcb China

• Eric Leong, Planning Director, Grey Group Hong Kong

• Gilad Coppersmith, International Client President, Carat

• Ginger Zhu, Marketing Director, East China, Nike

• Goz Gostelow, Executive Creative Director, Razorfish Hong Kong

• Guy Barke, Integrated Business Director, Asia Pacific, Isobar

• Jason Kuperman, Vice President, Omnicom Digital Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Omnicom Group

• Josie Brown, Director of Digital, Asia Pacific, JWT

• Julien Chiavassa, Digital & E-commerce Head, Asia Pacific, Clarins

• Kiki Chen, Managing Director, Medialand Digital Strategy

• Neil Hudspeth, Chief Digital Officer, Asia Pacific, Leo Burnett

• Nicole Sparshott, Vice President of Marketing, Asia Pacific, Unilever

• Patrick Rona, President of Tribal DDB Asia Pacific & Chief Digital Officer of DDB Group Asia Pacific, Tribal DDB Worldwide

• Paul Gage, Regional Head of Planning, Asia Pacific, iris Worldwide

• Richard Fraser, Regional Managing Director, Asia, Middle East & Africa, Proximity

• Rod Strother, Director of Digital & Social Media Centre of Excellence, Singapore, Lenovo

• Sherri Maxwell, Executive Creative Director & Founder, Creative Underground

• Susana Tsui, CEO, Asia Pacific, PHD

• Thomas Crampton, Global Managing Director of Social@Ogilvy, Ogilvy Public Relations

• Tony Chen, President, China, GroupM Interaction • Tripti Lochan, CEO, Asia, VML Qais

• Yasuharu Sasaki, Executive Creative Director, Japan, Dentsu Network

• Yichen Yang, Group Director of Interactive Marketing, e21 MagicMedia

Heading up the Data & Analytics jury will be Dr. Elaine Rodrigo, Global Director, Consumer Insights & Strategy of Mondelez International. Elaine has 18 years of experience in FMCG organisations, global research suppliers and academia. Based in Singapore, she is part of the Global Biscuits Category Leadership Team and is responsible for insights across all markets with a particular focus on the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. She joined Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods) in 2007, having previously worked for Reckitt Benckiser, where she spent seven years in a variety of roles in a market research function. Prior to this, Elaine worked at Research International and Synovate and has lectured in Universities on subjects covering Marketing, Strategy and Advanced Research Techniques. Furthermore, the Data & Analytics Jury consists of:

• Arvind Sethumadhavan, Chief Innovation Officer, Asia Pacific, Dentsu Aegis Network

• Jon Wright, Head of Analytics and Insight, Asia Pacific, MEC

• Ken Hsu, Regional Director of Customer Insights, Asia Pacific, Wunderman

• Lee Smith, CEO Platforms, Asia Pacific, Omnicom Media Group

• Nan Hee Kim, Vice Head of Data and Analytics Centre, South Korea, Cheil Worldwide

• Pádraig Flynn, Head of Asia Analytics Centre & Director of Business Science, Asia Pacific, MediaCom

• Patricio De Matteis, Managing Director of Accenture Interactive Asia Pacific, Accenture

• Ross Jackson, Regional Head of Cross Border Business, Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East, Africa, Visa Worldwide

• Tuomas Peltoniemi, Head of Digital, TBWADigital Arts Network Singapore

• Vikas Sah, Vice President of Technology, Search and Analytics, Indigo Consulting, India

• Vinoaj Vijeyakumaar, Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Sparkline Analytics

• Yeong Yee, Regional Head of Digital Strategy and Analytics, Yolk(at)Grey

“We’re delighted to welcome Andrew and Elaine as jury presidents in such an exciting year. 2014 has seen the addition of three new strategy sections and we can be sure to see even more innovative and inspiring work that targets and drives consumer engagement from across the region,” says Terry Savage, Chairman of Lions Festivals.

Winners will be announced at the dedicated Awards Ceremony on 29 May at the St Regis Singapore. Anyone wishing to be a part of the celebrations can book their place at http://www.ames.asia/general/attend-the-festival.

 


 

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) launched a process to transition the role of the United States Government stewardship of the important Internet technical functions to the global Internet community. The U.S. Government’s current responsibilities to be transitioned include the procedural role of administering changes to the Domain Name System’s (DNS) to the authoritative root zone file - the database containing the lists of names and addresses of all top-level domains – as well as serving as the historic steward of the unique identifiers registries for Domain names, IP addresses, and protocol parameters. In doing so, the U.S. recognized ICANN’s maturation in becoming an effective multi-stakeholder organization and requested that ICANN convene the global community to develop the transition process from of the U.S. stewardship to a global community consensus-driven mechanism.

“We are inviting governments, the private sector, civil society, and other Internet organizations from the whole world to join us in developing this transition process,” said Fadi Chehadé, ICANN’s President and CEO. ”All stakeholders deserve a voice in the management and governance of this global resource as equal partners.”

Independent of the U.S. transition, the roles of the Internet technical organizations, including ICANN’s role as administrator of the Internet’s unique identifier system, remain unchanged. The Internet’s Unique Identifier functions are not apparent to most Internet users, but they play a critical role in maintaining a single, global, unified and interoperable Internet.

The first community-wide dialogue about the development of the transitional process will begin March 23-27 during ICANN’s 49th Public Meeting, in Singapore. All global stakeholders are welcome to participate in person or remotely.

 

 


 

For the sixth time, the Ethisphere Institute has named Rockwell Automation as one of the “World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies,” a recognition that honours organisations that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behaviour.

The Ethisphere Institute is an independent centre of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance. World’s Most Ethical Company honourees understand the correlation between ethics, reputation and business success.

In Rockwell Automation’s most recent Global Voices Survey, employees ranked the company’s culture of ethics, responsibility and accountability amongst its strongest drivers of employee engagement. Further, according to a study conducted for the company by the Corporate Executive Board, Rockwell Automation leaders ranked the importance of ethics and compliance higher than nearly all of the more than 175 other companies surveyed.

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ framework. Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance programme (25%), reputation, leadership and innovation (20%), governance (10%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25%) and culture of ethics (20%). The full list of the 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://ethisphere.com/worlds-most-ethical/wme-honorees/.

Rockwell Automation also announced that its 2013 Corporate Responsibility Report is now available online and in print. Besides detailing the company’s approach to ethical business practices, the report highlights updates on the company’s environmental performance, employee safety and culture, and community relations efforts.To learn more about Rockwell Automation’s corporate responsibility practices and programmes, please click here http://www.rockwellautomation.com/about-us/sustainability-ethics/overview.page.

 

 


 

ShahvezGrey Group Asia Pacific has promoted Shahvez Afridi to Head of Strategy, looking after all of Grey Group’s strategic thinking on the Procter & Gamble account in the Asia Pacific region. In his new role, Afridi will be reporting to Nirvik Singh, Chairman & CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific and Tamara Ingram, President & CEO of Team P&G.

An Automobile Engineer with a Master’s in Management Studies, Shahvez has 19 years of end-to-end consumer insights and brand strategy experience across Asia-Pacific. These include marketing & brand management at Coca-Cola, research & consulting at the Nielsen Company as well as strategy & brand planning stints with BBDO, Lowe and Leo Burnett. One of the most awarded planners in Asia, he has clinched awards such as the Cannes Black Lion for Creative Effectiveness, Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence and Silver at the WARC Prize for Asian Strategy. At the Effie Awards India, Shahvez has won two Golds, the Brand Equity award and the Uncommon Sense award which rewards innovation and counter-intuitive thinking. Accolades at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival include Gold, Silver and Bronze awards as well as the Best Sustained Success award. In addition to all that, he has won the Creative Effectiveness Spike at Spikes Asia, an Effective Lotus at ADFEST Asia and struck Gold two years in a row at the Asia-Pacific Marketing Congress.

Lecturing is one of Shahvez’s biggest passions and he has continually been invited as a guest speaker by several universities in India, Thailand and Singapore, including the Singapore Management University and the University of Oklahoma.

 


 

Sofia_SavvidouOmnicom Media Group Asia Pacific has expanded their accountability team and appointed Sofia Savvidou as the Head of Trading and Accountability APAC, with immediate effect, while Paul Moreton, the previous head of the function, has been promoted to Chief Investment Officer. The move reflects Omnicom Media Group’s focus to remain at the forefront in this field of expertise, within the industry.

Paul_MoretonMost recently located in the London office within the global unit, Sofia has been with Omnicom Media Group for over ten years. In her new role, Sofia will work closely with the trading and accountability community in the region to strengthen, drive and support the function seamlessly, across OMD, PHD and M2M clients. In his new role, Paul Moreton will have a comprehensive remit encompassing the investment community to deliver best-in-market investment strategy and value for clients in the region.

Both the positions are effective immediately and based in Singapore. Moreton will report to Cheuk Chiang, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, Asia Pacific, while Sofia Savvidou will be reporting to Paul Moreton, Chief Investment Officer, Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific.

 


 

Havas Media Group Asia Pacific has invested in a social innovation called “Heartbot” – a machine that turns a set of identified hashtags into generated electricity.

Launched at Festival of Media Asia, Heartbot is an acronym for Havas Engagement Activated Response Technology Robot and facilitates meaningful connections between brands and consumers through deeper engagement and participation.

Hashtags are now becoming a powerful tool in categorizing online posts, especially on Twitter and Instagram and are being used successfully in campaigns to mobilize the public to participate in relief efforts and tourism promotions.

The machine functions by detecting a programmed set of tweets, then produces electricity for at least 10 seconds (depending on the number of tweets generated). It can power small scale to large scale equipment such as light bulbs and heat generating billboards.

Tony Sarmiento, Regional Creative Integrator at Havas Media APAC and Managing Partner and Chief Collaborator at Havas Media Ortega said: “In marketing it’s not just about the want to succeed, you need a lot of research, determination, passion but you also need a lot of heart and I guess that’s the cool thing about this innovation. It’s bringing together the two coolest things in the world – innovation and meaning.” “We are ready to roll up our sleeves to create customized versions of the Heartbot. This is just the beginning, we see Heartbot powering different machines, protocols and social engagements globally,” Sarmiento added.

 


 

Dalet Digital Media Systems, a leading provider of Media Asset Management (MAM) solutions, software and services for content producers partnered with Filemobile, a software company specializing in interactive online solutions.The new partnership demonstrates the innovative integration of user-generated content (UGC) into the news workflow using Dalet News Suite and Filemobile solutions.

Today, more and more news producers are looking for efficient ways to capitalize on UGC and engage their audience on a deeper and more personal level. To take full advantage of the incoming value-added content in a way that enhances the overall productivity, producers need efficient tools that fully integrate into existing workflows.

The Dalet-Filemobile integration offers a complete solution to leverage UGC from capture to multi-platform distribution. For breaking and planned news events, the newsroom team identifies the coordinates of citizen journalists and deploys geo-specific mobile alerts, motivating them to capture pictures or videos via the Filemobile app for iOS and Android. Using Filemobile Media Factory, news staff reviews, approves and organizes the UGC for potential news packages. The curated material is automatically transferred to the Dalet News Suite content catalogue and immediately available for production. Journalists use Dalet’s purpose-built editing tools to quickly create compelling stories using a mix of user-generated and professionally gathered content.

In addition, the Dalet-Filemobile integration serves as a dedicated contribution tool to facilitate a flow of qualified content into the newsroom from journalists and freelancers covering specific events. Filemobile is a platform for gathering, organizing and broadcasting social content, enabling users to source content from a variety of places, including individual audience’s desktop, mobile and social networks.

 


 

Bite has announced two key promotions in Asia Pacific. Karen Coleman assumes the role of General Manager for Bite Australia, while Rosemary Merz is appointed General Manager for Hong Kong. Both previously held the role of Group Director in their respective offices. Bite has been a pioneer in Asia Pacific over the past five years in integrating digital and social marketing services across the traditional PR agency skill set.

Karen_ColemanKaren Coleman joined the company in 2007 as a consultant and has since risen steadily in the organization. In her new role she takes on full P&L and team responsibility for Bite’s award-winning Australia business, which has doubled in revenues and profits over the last four years.

Rosemary_MerzRosemary Merz takes charge of Bite’s biggest office in the region, comprising dedicated communications and digital marketing teams. As general manager she will lead the further development of Bite’s content-based integrated marketing services offering, ranging from public relations and social media to paid digital marketing, development and search.

Both Karen and Rosemary report to Paul Mottram, EVP Asia Pacific.

 


 

Gary_WongOMD Hong Kong has promoted Gary Wong to the position of General Manager, effective immediately. In his new role, Gary will be a part of the OMD management team and work closely with Roid Sin, CEO, OMD Hong Kong in developing new business opportunities, enhancing client servicing excellence, mentoring talent and raising operational effectiveness.

Gary re-joined OMD Hong Kong as Business Director in 2011 to help the agency manage some of its biggest clients including Estee Lauder Company, CSL, Johnson & Johnson, Olympus, DBS and Carlsberg. Under his leadership, OMD Hong Kong strengthened business partnerships with key clients, expanded scope of services with existing clients and actively drove new business. 2013 was a successful year in terms of new business wins that led OMD Hong Kong to take the top slot in R3’s new business rankings. Gary also played a key role in helping clients adopt OMD’s thought-led planning tool, Vision.

Gary has over 20 years of experience in the industry working on various blue chip clients in Telecom, Banking, Beverages, IT and Retail categories. He will report to Roid Sin.

 


 

The_GuardianGuardian News & Media (GNM) announced it has extended its partnership with media and communications agency, PHD, to cover Guardian Australia’s digital properties.

PHD launched in the UK in 1990 as the world’s first planning-led media agency with The Guardian as one of its foundation clients. Since its inception, PHD has expanded worldwide and now has over 80 offices covering more than 70 markets. PHD arrived in Australia in 2009 and with The Guardian’s recent entry nine months ago. Now the two companies have decided to continue their 24-year strong relationship down under. PHD will assist Guardian Australia in media buying, bolstering its brand, and developing new products specifically for Australia.

 


 

Havas Media Group, the global media network of Havas, announced it has formed a strategic alliance with leading Kiwi agency Lassoo Media. This alliance will allow Havas Media Group to extend its presence in New Zealand, an important market in the Asia Pacific region, while providing Lassoo access to the group’s suite of leading-edge digital, media and research resources.

Both companies are still run by their founders who remain actively involved in the businesses and both invest extensively in experience and expertise.

Last year Havas Media Group had re-launched its Australia operation under the leadership of prominent media veteran Mike Wilson and the new partnership is expected to further strengthen the group’s presence in the region.

Founded over a decade ago, Lassoo Media and PR has established itself as an innovative company, pioneering convergence between media, PR and digital. Like Havas Media Group, Lassoo views itself as a challenger brand and one of New Zealand’s leading independent media and PR companies.

 


 

Epsilon, the global leader in delivering direct-to-customer connections that drive business performance, announced a number of leadership changes in APAC and EMEA to support the expansion of new marketing agency offerings. These executive changes include Dominic Powers, Frank Anan, Phil Cottier, Liz Sullivan, Mike Kustreba and Janet Low.

Dominic Powers has been promoted to take charge of Epsilon’s growth strategy in the APAC and EMEA regions, developing new offerings and markets, as the newly appointed Executive Vice President and Managing Director for International. He will join Epsilon’s global senior leadership team and continue to report to Andy Frawley, president of Epsilon. Powers and his new leadership line-up will be responsible for Epsilon’s continued development of a new breed of marketing agency that empowers global brands to unite data-driven marketing, technology and creative across traditional and digital channels.

Frank Anan is now Senior Vice President, Digital for International, relocating to Tokyo from San Francisco. Frank is a founding partner of SolutionSet Digital, part of HMI’s group of agencies which Epsilon acquired in 2012. He will lead the development, planning and technical execution of digital projects and integrated marketing programmes for clients in Asia Pacific and Europe.

Phil Cottier will now serve as Managing Director, EMEA. Previously, Cottier was CEO of Acorn, a creative agency which was part of Epsilon’s acquisition of HMI in November 2012. He brings over 25 years of global advertising experience and worked for some of the world’s biggest advertising agencies and brands including Coca-Cola, SAB Miller and 3M.

Mike Kustreba will become Managing Director, APAC. He was previously Vice President of Client Services, Epsilon, for the APAC region. He has over 13 years of experience in providing brands with relevant, customised digital marketing solutions that deliver high-performance customer experiences across multiple channels. Some of the household brands which Kustreba has worked closely with include Domino’s Pizza and Dell.

Janet Low will take over Kustreba’s previous role to become Vice President of Client Services, Asia Pacific.

Additionally, Liz Sullivan has been promoted from Director to Vice President of Strategic Consulting & Advanced Analytics for International. She will lead teams in Europe and APAC to expand Epsilon’s growing consulting and advanced analytics operation.

Frank Anan, Phil Cottier, Mike Kustreba and Liz Sullivan will report to Powers.

 


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