deniisHavas Media Asia Pacific announces the appointment of Dennis Potgraven as Head of Strategy for Hong Kong.

In his new role, Dennis will be responsible for overseeing strategy development for key Hong Kong based local and regional clients including LG Electronics, AXA and Shangri La. He will also drive the take up of Havas Media’s newly launched Organic Marketing proposition that seeks to foster a more organic approach to media. A key mandate for Dennis is managing and expanding the agency’s research offering in HK as part of the Meaningful Connection Planning framework.

Dennis is relocating from the agency’s Amsterdam office, which he joined in 2012 as Head of Strategy leading strategy for blue chip brands like Danone, Kia, LG, KLM, Reckitt Benckiser, Coty, IGLO, PSA and Disney.

Prior to joining Havas Media, he spent several years with leading advertisers handling marketing, marcom and media. Working with FMCG and retail brands like Nestle and Ahold, he built a successful track record of establishing brands, delivering integrated marketing communication and creating customer value.

Dennis graduated in Business Economics, with specialisation in International Marketing Management and effected post graduate programs at the London Business School (UK) and Neyenrode Business University (NL).

He will report in jointly to SK Biswas, Chief Strategy Officer and Jason Kwong, MD of Havas Media Hong Kong.

 


 

Microsoft and Opera Software sign agreement to extend Opera Mobile Store to more Nokia phones.

nokiaOpera Mobile Store will replace Nokia Store as the default app store for Nokia feature phones, Symbian and Nokia X smartphones, following an agreement between Opera Software and Microsoft.

Starting with the first quarter of 2015, people who access Nokia Store from Series 40, Series 60, Symbian, Asha and Nokia X devices will be automatically redirected to Opera Mobile Store, where they will be offered the opportunity to become customers of Opera Mobile Store and have access to tens of thousands of apps for their Nokia phones.

The transition to Opera Mobile Store will enable millions of people who use classic Nokia phones to continue to have a trusted source for apps, games and content. The process of migrating customers from Nokia Store to Opera Mobile Store is expected to be complete by the first half of 2015, at which point Nokia Store will be closed. When the transition of customers from the Nokia Store to the Opera Mobile Store is complete, Opera is positioned to become the third largest app store in terms of downloads.

 


 

UPnP Forum, the global standards group responsible for the seamless connectivity of billions of home devices today launches its UPnP+ Certification level for improved device and open source implementations in new paradigms, including mobile connected computing, Cloud-based service delivery, Smartphone content sharing and the Internet of Things (IoT).

With Gartner predicting the number of devices connected by the IoT to grow to 26 billion by 2020, this new certification comes at a time when the need for total interconnectivity and limitless functionality are driving the need for always-on devices.

UPnP+ Certification recognizes enhanced UPnP capabilities for existing UPnP device specifications such as security, Cloud access and energy management. The new UPnP+ Certification program uses new and existing UPnP device control protocols (DCPs) and UPnP architecture enhancements to provide UPnP protocols focused on delivering new technical capabilities for improved functionality and increased customer satisfaction.

UPnP+ is an evolution of previous UPnP capabilities and provides an improved, seamless experience for the consumer and creates new values and opportunities for manufacturers, developers and integrators, leveraging existing UPnP protocols to take them into the Cloud and bridge IoT. UPnP+ incorporates IPv6 capabilities for discovering Cloud services, but remains backwards compatible with IPv4 to support the billions of devices already connected by UPnP.

View the full requirements for achieving UPnP+ Certification.

 


 

Graham_DrewGraham Drew joins as the new Executive Creative Director (ECD) of Grey Group Malaysia and Grey Digital Malaysia.

Drew is a talented creative, who has extensive experience in through-the-line advertising (traditional, direct, shopper, B2B, PR, content, social and digital) with his passion lying in cross platform creative ideas.

He was the founder of VCCP Kin - the branded content arm of VCCP Partnership (a subsidiary of Chime Communications), which was a new venture created to blend the skill set of SEO, social media, content marketing and full-service film production.

Drew started his career with Shine, an independent, creative communications agency specialising in social, search and PR - he was there for close to four years. In 2004, Graham started his own PR agency, Resonate, within Chime Communications, which he then ran for almost seven years before setting up the social/content arm of VCCP in 2010.

Drew’s accolades include a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Shorty Awards for O2 (digital/social media), as well as being an integral part of Campaign’s Campaign of the Year last year.

 


 

Nick-West-BloombergBloomberg Media announced that Nick West has been named Head of Live Events for Bloomberg covering the Asia-Pacific region.

Reporting to Parry Ravindranathan, Managing Director of Bloomberg Media for Asia-Pacific, West will be responsible for strategy, development, design and execution for Bloomberg’s live events and conference business across the region. He will be based in Hong Kong.

West joins Bloomberg Media from The Financial Times in Hong Kong, where he spent the last six years building its events business in Asia and developing cross-platform solutions across the group. Prior to this role, he was with Financial Times Conferences in London as well as CWC Group, Euromoney PLC and Thomson Reuters.

 


 

Videology, one of the world's leading video advertising technology platforms, announced that it has elevated current CFO Scott Macleod to the position of President, and hired Kenneth Tarpey, former CFO of comScore, Inc. to fill the role left vacant by Macleod's promotion.

Macleod will report into Videology's Chairman and CEO, Scott Ferber.The move to strengthen and expand the executive team comes as Videology's growth in terms of its technology offering, geographic footprint and client base continues to escalate.

scott_macleodAs President, Macleod will lead the executive team to further the company's efforts toward providing industry-leading technology to connect the converging worlds of television and digital video advertising, while ensuring operational efficiencies, financial growth and a superior service to its technology clients. Prior to joining Videology in 2013, Macleod provided strategic and investment advisory services to corporations, including assisting companies in pursuing strategic and financing alternatives. During his career, Macleod was a managing director and founding member of Merrill Lynch's Global Communications Group and founded Merrill Lynch's Asia Pacific Telecoms practice. He later joined Rothschild as a managing director and head of the North American Telecom Group. Macleod has also held executive leadership positions at Nexlink Communications (later renamed XO Communications) and SkyTerra Communications. He holds a BA in Economics from Rutgers University, and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management.

kennethKen Tarpey, most recently, CFO of the leading digital measurement company comScore, Inc., will assume the role of CFO. Tarpey brings more than 30 years of financial leadership experience and expertise directing strategic operational and financial programs for public and private technology companies. During his five-year tenure at comScore, he led the company's financial operations and strategy during a time of rapid growth through both organic expansion and acquisitions. Mr. Tarpey also forged and fostered strong working relationships with the investment community, which helped comScore's market capitalization grow more than two and a half times under his leadership. Prior to joining comScore, Tarpey was CFO of ObjectVideo, Inc., a venture-backed provider of video surveillance software. Prior to ObjectVideo, he was CFO of several technology companies including Ai Metrix, Proxicom, NatSystems, and SQA. Tarpey led both SQA and Proxicom to successful initial public offerings, and orchestrated the eventual sale of Proxicom to Dimension Data. Earlier in his career, Tarpey served as a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds a BA from The College of the Holy Cross and MBA from Babson College.

 


 

Rubicon Project, a leader in advertising automation with one of the industry's largest independent real-time trading platforms for the buying and selling of advertising, announced it is expanding its direct order automation technology and consolidating the automated guaranteed market with the acquisitions of two privately held companies, iSocket and Shiny Ads.

In recent years, Rubicon Project has consistently delivered innovative technologies to the advertising marketplace - marked notably by the automation of direct orders for automated ‘non-guaranteed’ inventory it introduced to the market in 2012 - which complemented the company's industry leading automated auction technology.

The addition of iSocket and Shiny Ads provides technology solutions that automate the buying and selling of direct-sold, ’guaranteed’ deals – a segment of the direct orders market that is forecasted to surpass $8 billion in the U.S. alone by 2016. Sometimes referred to as automated guaranteed, this method of buying, which is prevalent in the television market, allows sellers to set prices for guaranteed audience impressions and buyers to discover and buy those guaranteed audiences. Automated guaranteed direct orders deliver CPMs that can be up to 10X that of RTB, delivering significantly greater revenue for sellers and greater access to premium inventory for buyers.

When combined with Rubicon Project's existing direct orders technology in the automation of non-guaranteed inventory, these acquisitions further extend the company's leadership position, allowing for the creation of the first and only "full-stack" of integrated solutions for automating, streamlining, and managing the processes of direct buying and selling of guaranteed and non-guaranteed advertising. The market for direct orders is forecasted to surpass $60 billion worldwide in 2014.

Assuming full attainment of earn-outs, the total consideration being paid by Rubicon Project for both acquisitions is less than $30 million, largely in stock. Given the timing of the acquisitions and the current stages of both businesses, it is not expected for either to contribute meaningfully to Q4 2014 earnings.

 


 

maggiepolowresHavas Media Ortega announces the appointment of Maggie Po as Chief Financial Officer.

Maggie’s key responsibilities include overseeing the back office operations, which includes Finance & Accounting, IT, Legal, HR and Admin. She brings with her more than 14 years of experience working in senior finance roles. Her longest stint has been with Branders.Com, a US-based multinational company, as its most senior finance person for eight years.

Maggie’s past experience also includes working with P&G Asia, where as AP Manager she oversaw the financial requirements for the Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam markets. She also had the distinction of being a P&G Recognition Shares awardee, where she bested more than 300 employees in the Manila headquarters and thousands more worldwide.

A Certified Public Accountant, Maggie has received her Bachelor’s Degree in Accountancy from Silliman University (Dumaguete) and her Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.

 


 

Interpublic Group and Millennial Media announced that they have entered into a yearlong global strategic partnership. As part of the agreement, IPG agencies and their clients will be eligible for greater efficiencies, custom research, access to Millennial Media’s robust and scalable mobile data capabilities, and a first look at the mobile advertising platform’s new products. The partnership, led by IPG Mediabrands, the global media holding company of Interpublic Group, includes all IPG creative, digital, marketing services and media agencies.

This collaboration will leverage the full power of mobile real-time bidding (RTB) technology, delivering superior targeting and retargeting, programmatic inventory and private marketplaces. IPG Mediabrands central automated buying platform Cadreon will be integrated with Millennial Media’s programmatic offerings. This global agreement with Millennial Media marks another significant step forward for IPG Mediabrands’ automation agenda.

 


 

kevinBrocade announces the hiring of mobile, cloud, and digital media technology expert, Kevin Shatzkamer, as Distinguished Engineer and CTO Mobile Networking.

In this role, Shatzkamer will collaborate with customer CTOs to develop new operational models to quickly realize revenue-generating services through the use of emerging technologies, such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV).

Mobile operator networks are currently undergoing a radical evolution -- increasingly referred to as the New IP -- in which they will adopt open, software-driven solutions to improve service delivery and modernize business models. Specializing in mobile architecture design, Shatzkamer has spent the past 15 years analyzing the impact of cloud, mobile, and digital media on the networks of service providers. In taking an ecosystem-wide, experience-centric approach to working with customers, he has become a leading expert in the development of long-term strategies optimized for telecommunications companies.

Recognized as a subject matter expert across the industry, Shatzkamer has more than 50 mobile networking patents granted or issued. Furthermore, he co-convened the Open Web Alliance and has authored two books: "IP Design for Mobile Networks" and "Building the Mobile Internet”.

Previously, Shatzkamer served as a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco. He also currently serves as a board advisor for a number of companies, including DataRPM, Voltserver, and Penthera Partners.

Shatzkamer joins other high-profile hires in the Brocade Office of the CTO, including David Meyer, Tom Nadeau, and Benson Schliesser.

 


 

johannaCrowdStrike Inc., a leading provider of next-generation endpoint threat protection, intelligence, and services, announced that Johanna Flower has joined the leadership team as Chief Marketing Officer.

Johanna brings more than 16 years of marketing and security industry expertise to CrowdStrike. In her role as Chief Marketing Officer, she will be responsible for directing the brand, messaging, go-to-market strategies, demand generation and field sales support.

Prior to joining the company, she served over a 14-year span in several executive level positions at the cyber security firm Websense Inc., including Chief Marketing Officer, Vice President of SMB sales and Vice President of International Marketing and Channel Programs. While at Websense, Johanna's vision helped shape the firm's marketing and go-to-market strategies, resulting in the company gaining the largest worldwide market share, simultaneously expanding revenues from $30m to over $360m. She was part of the core group involved in the company's M&A activity, including the sale to Vista Equity Partners in 2013, which took the company private. Prior to her time with Websense, she led product marketing for European Security Distributor Wick Hill. Johanna holds a BA in Business Administration from Brighton University, United Kingdom.

 


 

JDNeat®, a leader in Smart Organization Systems for the small business and consumer markets, announced the appointment of Jeff Dickerson as chairman and chief executive officer.

In this position, he is responsible for overall company leadership, strategic direction, and financial performance. Jeff has 25 years of experience building teams and creating business value in a variety of strategic roles including sales, marketing, services, mergers and acquisitions, and operations. Before joining Neat, Jeff was the CEO and president of Sonian, Inc., a cloud-based archiving solution. Under his leadership, Sonian enjoyed 70%+ year over year revenue growth amassing 17,000+ B2B customers in over 40 countries through the distribution lines of IBM, RackSpace, Amazon and others.

Prior to that, Jeff was the CEO of Metatomix, a provider of semantic based applications that was acquired by Versata, Inc. In 2004, he orchestrated a notable turnaround at eCredit, Inc., a provider of credit risk management and collections software, which was acquired by Fidelity Ventures in late 2006. He was previously the senior vice president of worldwide sales and services at MCK Communications, where he expanded revenue from $0 in 1997 to $60 million in 2001, setting the foundation for a successful public offering in 1999. Early in his career, he was also a vice president of sales at Vmark Software, and held management positions at Prime Computer and Parametric Technologies.

 


 

lenMessage Systems, the global leader in email infrastructure software for cloud-based businesses and large enterprises, announced that Len Shneyder, Director of Industry Relations, has been selected to serve on the M3AAWG Board of Directors.

The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (www.m3aawg.org) is where the industry comes together to work against botnets, malware, spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. M3AAWG leverages the depth and experience of a global community to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging threats through technology, collaboration and public policy. It also works to educate global policy makers on the technical and operational issues related to online abuse and messaging. The appointment was made official at the recently concluded M3AAWG 32nd General Meeting in Boston.

The M3AAWG Board works not only with constituent members, but also seeks to establish dialogues with outside groups that have similar missions. M3AAWG works cooperatively with enforcement agencies such as the FTC and the FBI, industry trade groups and policy organizations by providing technical expertise on operational and security issues that affect the industry's ability to protect end-users.

Mr. Shneyder will also continue to serve as co-chair of the M3AAWG Program Committee, helping to shape the organization's three annual meetings to ensure that topics relevant to the messaging, malware and mobile mission are consistently front and center in keynote presentations and sessions. The program committee handles logistics associated with bringing in speakers from around the world, serving as a point of contact to ensure that schedules are created on time and adhered to, and that sessions are appropriately staffed and run so that attendees can contribute in a meaningful way to the organization and its mission.

 


 

LG Electronics Inc. (LG) and Google Inc. have entered into a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement covering a broad range of products and technologies. The agreement covers the two companies' existing patents as well as those filed over the next 10 years. This agreement builds on the long-standing strong alliance between Google and LG Electronics, the companies said.

 


 

WeDo Technologies, a worldwide leader in Enterprise Business Assurance (EBA), Revenue Assurance (RA) and Fraud Management (FM), signed a global partnership agreement with Microsoft to deliver WeDo Technologies' RAID software on Microsoft's public cloud platform, Microsoft Azure.

With Microsoft and WeDo, large organizations and the public sector will be able to monitor performance, automate - how they audit, control business processes and combat social fraud - without the need to manage hardware and other components.

WeDo Technologies' RAID software, running in Azure, will let customers' management teams continuously review business process performance, measure and detect deviations from projected levels, and allow for a rapid transformational response. By gathering processes, systems data and running performance auditing rules, an EBA strategy will enable better alignment, successful strategy execution and improvement in the overall performance and delivery of both short and long term financial returns.

The partnership is aimed primarily at large organizations within the Retail, Energy, Banking, Insurance, Healthcare industries and the Public sector.

 


 

The members of ESOMAR, the global association of the market research industry, have voted and elected a new President, Vice President and Council in the recently held Council elections.

Taking over form Dan Foreman as President is Laurent FLORES, who will be joined by David SMITH as Vice President.

In addition the following eight candidates were elected to the ESOMAR Council for the remaining seats for the 2015/2016 term (listed alphabetically by last name): David BAKKEN (USA), Joaquim BRETCHA (Spain), Anne-Sophie DAMELINCOURT (France), Kristin LUCK (USA), Pervin OLGUN (Turkey), BV PRADEEP (Singapore), Niels SCHILLEWAERT (USA), Pieter Paul VERHEGGEN (Netherlands).

Dan Foreman, will remain on the Council in an ex-officio capacity as past President for the 2015/2016 term.

Both Laurent and David bring immense professional experience to their new positions.

Laurent’s experience includes being the Global Director for MetrixLab, Vice-President for Ipsos-ASI and currently being the founding partner of SLPV-Analytics. He is also actively involved in academia and is currently an Associate Professor in Marketing at the Sorbonne in Paris.

David has a rich background as a consultant in marketing, including being chairman for Illuminas. He is currently Founder and Director of DVL Smith and a professor at the University of Hertfordshire Business School.

The ESOMAR Council has a governing role over the association and will serve for a two-year term, thus being responsible for the organisation achieving its overall vision, mission and objectives.

The election and ballot procedure, held between 22 September - 20 October 2014, was processed by an independent third-party, Electoral Reform Services (ERS) Ltd. The ESOMAR Council also appointed an Election Committee to oversee the elections, which included the current President of ESOMAR, the two immediate past presidents and the ESOMAR Director General.

ESOMAR is the essential organisation for encouraging, advancing and elevating market research worldwide. Since 1948 ESOMAR has brought together the research sector to share knowledge, promote best practice and agree upon the future of the industry as a community based on common principles of best practice.

 


 

The winners of the 2014 LIAs have been announced this week.

BBDO has been awarded the Network of the Year title for the third time in four years, having also picked up the award in 2011 and 2012. The Agency of the Year award goes to adam&eveDDB London whilst Serviceplan Munich pick up the Independent Agency of the Year award.

Having picked up the award last year, Eardrum Australia have again won the Radio & Audio Company of the Year award and MPC won the Post-Production Company of the Year award.

This year’s Production Company of the Year award went to MJZ and besides picking up the Agency of the Year award, adam&eveDDB have won Grand LIAs for two of their projects; ‘Bear&Hare’ for John Lewis (TV/Cinema/Online Film) and ‘Sorry I Spent It On Myself’ for Harvey Nichols (Integration).

OgilvyOne London have won a Grand LIA for their British Airways ‘Magic of Flying’ Billboard entry, whilst Dentsu Inc.’s ‘Sound of Honda/Ayrton Senna 1989’ for Internavi is awarded a Grand LIA in the Digital category.

Marcel Paris pick up a Grand LIA in the Non-Traditional category for their ‘Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables’ campaign for Intermarché and Creative Artists Agency is awarded a Grand LIA in TV/Cinema/Online Film – Music & Sound for ‘The Scarecrow’ for Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The top performing nation at this year’s LIAs is the United Kingdom, edging out the United States and Germany who are second and third, respectively. Australia in fourth and Canada in fifth make up the rest of the top five.

It’s the LIA mission to award creativity and the power of ideas in all forms of advertising, digital, branded content, design, production and music and sound. A full breakdown of the winners of the 2014 LIAs can be found here.

 


 

Grey Digital has rolled out a Real Time Marketing Command Center (REALM) that correlates real time insights from social media conversations, online media performance and conversion results. This then guides content and campaign optimization to improve results in real time.

A proprietary tool to correlate instantaneous analysis from multiple data sources is used to achieve this.

Grey Digital, formerly known as Yolk(at)Grey, believes in creating unique and engaging digital experiences with the vision to lead the industry as digital lifestyle enablers, specializing in digital engagement, activation and retention strategies. The company has already signed up premium clients such as Resorts World Genting and Maybank Malaysia onto this platform.

The command centre sits in the Grey Group office where resources can respond immediately. When a trend or event is picked up, the team is able to tap into a pre-approved set of alternative assets and can optimize this for the clients’ social and online audience. Social reaction is managed via a tool called Digital Channel Management System (DCMS), a proprietary innovation by Grey Group Asia Pacific. This tool manages conversations across all social channels.

Without doubts, Grey Digital connects brands, social communities and digital cultures with forward-thinking ideas, solutions, content and technology.

 


 

Havas Media Group India has won the integrated media business of the prestigious OCM brand in India in a multi-agency pitch. The account includes traditional and digital media duties.

Havas Media recently won the integrated media mandate of Assetz Property Group, Borosil, World Kabaddi League, Yepme.com, retained MTS India and won the digital duties of XOLO mobile and Businessworld magazine.

 


 

elianaInDemand Interpreting, the leading provider of medical interpreting, named 15-year language services veteran Eliana Lobo to the post of National Director of Interpreting Quality. This is a new position in this fast growing company.

Mrs. Lobo will lead quality assurance, training and program development for medical interpreters at InDemand's national call centers in Seattle, Chicago and Wenatchee, WA.

A certified Trainer of Medical Interpreters and Fulbright grant awardee, Eliana Lobo comes to InDemand Interpreting from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. There she supervised interpreter services for more than 6 years. She is the Trainers Division Chair of the International Medical Interpreters Association and previously held the post of Portuguese Division Chair.

 


 

brian_krebsThe Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) has chosen Brian Krebs to receive the Guardian Award for investigative journalism and shining a light on fraud.

The award is given annually to a journalist “whose determination, perseverance, and commitment to the truth have contributed significantly to the fight against fraud.”

The organization will present the Guardian Award to Krebs at the 26th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, June 14-19, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland, prior to his keynote address. With nearly 75,000 members, the ACFE is the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education.

Krebs discovered and first reported on data breaches at credit card processors Heartland (the largest single data breach to date), Global Payments and FIS for his website KrebsOnSecurity.com. He was also the first reporter to break the Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus, Michael’s, Jimmy Johns and Kmart breaches.

As a reporter for The Washington Post from 1995 to 2009, Krebs authored hundreds of articles for the paper as well as posts for the Security Fix blog. He achieved notoriety investigating cybercriminals’ illicit activities, uncovering massive data breaches and the theft of consumers’ personal and financial information. Krebs was the first journalist to report on the malware that would later become known as Stuxnet.

Sony Pictures is reportedly planning a motion picture based upon Krebs’ story after picking up the rights to the New York Times article "Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly," which focused on his exploits. According to the article, Krebs has been threatened, maligned and offered bribes by the criminals he works to expose. He is also writing a book about his experiences, Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime.

As noted on his website, Krebs wasn’t trained in computer security and actually stumbled upon the field by accident. It was after he fell victim to Chinese hackers taking over his entire home network in 2001 that he found his true calling. “It’s an obsession that hasn’t let up,” he wrote.

ACFE President and CEO James D. Ratley, CFE, said that Krebs’s investigative reporting helped expose dangerous cybercriminals and those who would aid their efforts. For more information visit FraudConference.com.