HelenRecognised marketer, Hélène Blanchette, senior manager of Innovation & Business Transformation, Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, known for her renowned 1:1 experience programme that has helped customers generate increased ROI efficiency, was conferred the title of one of Asia’s Top 50 CMOs at the World Marketing Summit 2013 Awards. She received the coveted award at the award ceremony held on 30 September, at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The award-winning program, the 1:1 Experience, which Blanchette founded and currently spearheads, has gained worldwide attention and has given Fuji Xerox recognition for enabling customers to create value by adopting a consistent, innovative and strategic branding and marketing approach. The program has been successful in capturing a strong mindshare amongst consumers, in influencing consumers’ actual buying behavior and in securing consumers’ commitment to the brand.

Blanchette has been an active part of the graphic communication and marketing industries for almost 20 years. She joined the Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific offices in Singapore in 2007, bringing with her rich experience as a manager of National Industry & Marketing, Asia Graphic Communication Division of Xerox Canada.

The World Marketing Summit is an initiative of Philip Kotler, an American marketing author and S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago. He is hailed by Management Centre Europe as "the world's foremost expert on the strategic practice of marketing.” Recipients for the award were selected based on individual merits and factors including strategic perspective and business goal management, business ethics and compliance, team orientation and people management, customer focus and networking, as well as performance management and achievement of excellence.

In 2010, Blanchette was honoured with the Individual Global Brand Leadership Award, a coveted title in the marketing world. She was also presented with the Brand Leadership Award that same year, honoured by the non-profit organization, World Brand Congress.

element14logo_highreselement14 just announced the launch of the new Smarter Life Challenge, a global design competition which will encourage participants to develop forward-thinking products. The challenge will leverage the technology of single-chip systems, which have the potential to change and improve lives.

The initiative, which will use the Cypress PSoC® 4 Pioneer Kit, also aims to create renewed excitement and interest in futuristic examples of projects that could be explored include a smart oven which can detect when food is sufficiently cooked and send a text or tweet once the timer goes off. A smart coffee maker, as another example, might be able to respond to voice commands and provide text or tweet updates when finished brewing.

The challenge will begin with a three-week qualifying period in which potential participants will submit their design idea, why they came up with it and how they plan to use the PSoC 4. On Wednesday, October 2, at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. GMT, Cypress will provide a webinar on the topic of “the smarter life” through the use of the PSoC4.

Once the qualifying phase ends on Monday, October 14, competitors will be selected and sent product. They’ll also be granted a budget of approximately $500 (£300) for accessories and other parts for the build.

Throughout the build phase, competitors will also develop blog posts addressing their ideas, what inspires them and what their key challenges might be. The competition will conclude on Friday, January 17, 2014.

The winner will be determined by a vote on the award-winning element14 Community, which offers design engineers a space to share project concepts with nearly 200,000 members. The grand prize winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Embedded World, the world’s largest trade conference of its kind, where they will showcase their designs at the Cypress and element14 booths. Embedded World will take place in Nuremberg, Germany February 25-27, 2014. Other prizes include vouchers for up to $1,500, redeemable at element14’s online retail sites. For more information on the Smarter Life Challenge, please visit http://www.element14.com/smarterlife.

Connie_Chan_photoThe Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations (CAAAA) has announced Ms Connie Chan, Managing Director of MEC Global Solutions (APAC) as the Chairman for the inaugural APAC Effie Awards 2014. Noteworthy is that she is the President of the Singapore 4As (Association of Accredited Advertising Agents) as well, and even the first woman president in the association’s 64 year history.

With 19 years of local and international experience, Connie has a unique career profile in Singapore. She was a founder member of MEC Global Solutions, Asia’s first and still the largest and most successful specialist company providing international planning and multi-market management services for regional clients.

effie_asiapacific_logoToday her responsibilities include working closely with the region’s local market managing directors developing the agency’s international clients; driving a culture of client centricity, as well as regional business development.

Organised by the CAAAA and Tenasia Group, the Effie Awards is recognized throughout the industry as the global standard of marketing effectiveness excellence.

APAC Effie Awards 2014 will be open for entry submission from October to December 2013. Exact dates and categories will be announced soon. The awards gala will take place in Singapore in April 2014.

orangeOrange Business Services, a leading global integrated communications service provider, announced the opening of an interactive ‘solution center’ in Hong Kong, following similar customer experience centers in Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo. This is the twelfth addition to the extensive breadth of interactive solution showcase facilities opened in Asia Pacific, including eight new mobile solution centers launched recently. The new center in Hong Kong showcases advanced enterprise communication solutions including Orange’s cloud offerings of Flexible Computing, Flexible Contact Center and Unified Communications as a Service.

Meanwhile, mobile solution centers, which are available for customers in New Delhi, Mumbai, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo and Hong Kong allow Orange’s best-in-class solutions to be experienced by customers on an anytime-anywhere basis. All centers are connected to Orange’s global demonstration infrastructure enabling a real-time, consistent experience to enterprise customers.

The solution centers showcase:

• Flexible Computing – an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering;

• Business Together as a Service – a suite of unified communications tools that supports enterprise collaboration across a global workspace;

• Flexible Contact Center – a solution that boosts organizations’ multi-channel CRM communications to meet customer demands;

• Videopresence, Smartphone Management and Machine to Machine solutions.

Bite is recognizing the strength of its senior leaders in Australia with the promotions of Roger Marshall to Senior Vice President, Asia South and Karen Coleman to Group Director, Bite Australia.

With Bite for more than five and a half years and serving most recently as Managing Director of Asia South, Marshall has built the Australia office into one of the region’s most consistently innovative and profitable teams and has simultaneously overseen the development of Bite’s business in Singapore.

Roger_MarshallIn his new role, Marshall will contribute to regional efforts across Australia, Singapore and Southeast Asia, developing Bite’s marketing capabilities and providing leadership for human resources and training initiatives. Maintaining his base in Sydney, Marshall will continue to use his more than 20 years’ communications experience across Australia and New Zealand, Asia and Europe to provide insight, and client counselling.

 

Karen_ColemanColeman has been with Bite for more than six years, providing strategic direction on enterprise and consumer client campaigns for PR, digital and integrated marketing. In her previous role as Practice Director, Coleman led the growth of the Australia team’s execution of integrated digital work following Bite’s transition from a PR agency into an integrated marketing services agency. In her new role, Coleman will be responsible for the day-to-day management and development of the Bite Australia team, utilising her expertise in both online and offline PR and integrated marketing to drive business growth and new business development.

In true Dutch style, MediaMonks takes a pioneering step overseas to become the first independent creative digital production agency from Europe to open up an office in Singapore.

The company, which opened its headquarters in Amsterdam in 2001, lands on Singaporean soil to service ad agencies throughout Asia. Since launching, MediaMonks has grown to more than 175 full-time employees. Singapore, after London and New York, is the third overseas office, reinforcing plans to become an independent production agency micro-network. The Singapore team already works on major regional campaigns for agencies such as BBDO, BBH and Saatchi & Saatchi and will be led by Joris Pol, a five-year Monk veteran who was instrumental in the success of the London office.

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson and a global leader in protecting and optimizing critical infrastructure, announced two key appointments designed to fortify its service and support structure in Asia.

Having reliable service support in place can be vital to business productivity. As companies increasingly rely on IT operations, the financial and business losses that come with a downtime event also increases.

Pascal_bodinPascal Bodin has been named director for service and projects for Emerson Network Power, covering Singapore, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. The IT industry veteran spent ten months with Chloride Asia before moving to Emerson Network Power, when the former was acquired in 2010. He previously served as country manager for Chloride Philippines and Korea. Bodin graduated with a degree in Marketing and Management from Grenoble Ecole De Management and is currently based in Singapore.

 

Toh_KaideeMalaysia and Pakistan, meanwhile, will be placed under the strategic management of Toh Kai Dee, who has been appointed director for service and projects for the two market units. He has twelve years of industry experience with Emerson Network Power, and has been instrumental in developing the company’s service business in South East Asia. Toh Kai Dee holds a degree in production engineering and a joint MBA from the University of Bath, UK and Malaysia Institute of Management and is currently based in Malaysia.

 

jodieOMD International, the specialist unit that manages multi-national client assignments, has appointed Jodie Collins as its Digital Strategy Director. In this regional role, Jodie will work across key global accounts and be responsible for driving thought leadership and digital strategy. Working closely with account teams, she will play a key role in mapping digital initiatives for OMD International clients.

As a strategic marketing and advertising professional with more than 16 years of industry experience, Jodie has worked in senior leadership roles in a variety of media, creative and digital agencies. Her professional experience is driven by a firm belief that digital marketing enables brands to connect with consumers in meaningful and effective ways.

Jodie joins OMD International from M&C Saatchi, Sydney, where she held the position of Strategy Director. Prior to M&C Saatchi, she was the Head of Marketing and Creative Service at News Digital Media, Australia.

She will take over the role from her predecessor Jonathan Mackenzie, who got promoted to the post of Regional Head, Social Media, Omnicom Media Group. Her job is based in Singapore and she will report to Aruna Natarajan, Managing Partner, OMD International (APAC).

Profile_Pic_A_reasonably_smallHavas Media Group Ortega’s newly launched agency brand Arena has been appointed the media agency for the iconic doughnut and coffee chain Krispy Kreme for the Philippines market.

Arena won the account after a five-way pitch process, which included agencies Carat, Mindshare Geiser-Maclang and On-Media Pro. The incumbent on the account is a PR agency.

In the Philippines, Krispy Kreme is owned by The Real American Doughnut Company, which is part of Max’s Group of Companies.

“As we enter our 8th robust year in the Philippines, we felt it was time for us to take our game to the next level,” said Mark Gamboa, marketing director of Krispy Kreme Philippines. “The Havas Media Ortega Group understood the Krispy Kreme brand. They traced its history and gave recommendations that remained true to the core of the brand. No gimmicks,” added Jim Fuentebella, chairman of The Real American Doughnut Company.

Commenting on the win, Jos Ortega, Chairman of Havas Media Ortega, said: "This is a story of clarity and simplicity. We identified the core strength of the Krispy Kreme brand and focused all our efforts in celebrating that winning advantage."

Krispy Kreme has 44 branches nation-wide and expects to end the year with 50 locations.

Saw_Ken_WyeCrimsonLogic, a leading provider of eGovernment solutions and services headquartered in Singapore, announced the appointment of Saw Ken Wye as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

In his new role, Ken Wye will be responsible for growing customer relationships, expanding CrimsonLogic’s footprint and enhancing sales in key growth markets. He will focus on managing business growth to drive successes in emerging as well as developed markets and drive deeper customer traction in the company’s three core business areas, such as Trade Facilitation, eJudiciary, as well as eGovernment and eCitizen.

Ken Wye was previously Vice-President for Public Sector (Asia) at Microsoft and responsible for helping governments embrace and use technology to improve business efficiencies, as well as developing local industries and improving overall national competitiveness. He started his IT career with the National Computer Board (NCB) in 1983 and his last appointment there was Assistant Chief Executive (Industry). In his time with NCB, Ken Wye was involved in the development of many strategic national IT projects including IT2000 and Singapore ONE. He also headed the Japan-Singapore Artificial Intelligence Centre (2001-2004), a joint project between the Governments of Japan (represented by Japan International Cooperation Agency) and Singapore (represented by NCB), that tends to embrace and use technology to improve business efficiencies, developing local industries and improving overall national competitiveness.

Todd_LynchWORLDCOM Public Relations Group (Worldcom), the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations firms, announced the appointment of Todd Lynch as its first Managing Director. Reporting to the Worldcom Group Board, his roles include setting strategy and direction for the company, elevating shared best practices and knowledge, raising the visibility of Worldcom’s brand globally, and representing it successfully in the international PR community. In addition, Lynch will continue to fuel Worldcom’s growth by recruiting new partners worldwide and establishing a stronger revenue base that drives the delivery of enhanced services to partners.

Lynch, who was formerly Vice President, Client Relations at Worldcom partner firm St. John & Partners in Jacksonville, Florida, was serving as Worldcom’s Americas Region Board Chair and Chair-Elect of the Worldcom Group board at the time of his appointment.

Established in 1988, with 128 offices in 102 markets across six continents, Worldcom offers its partners global reach with immediate impact and sustained value through the intelligent use of communications – wherever in the world a client needs support. Through Worldcom, clients have on-demand access to in-depth communications expertise from professionals who understand the language, culture and customs of the geographic areas in which they operate.