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Richard NicollLiquid Omnicommerce, an independent and pioneering end-to-end retail consultancy, has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Richard Nicoll as its new Chief Commerce Officer and Managing Director.

Richard joins Liquid from Publicis Communications in Asia, where he was Chief Shopper Marketing Officer. He has also held leadership roles at Saatchi & Saatchi in London and Hong Kong.

He was latterly responsible for building the regional shopper marketing capability for Publicis Communications (Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Publicis WW) across Asia as well as leading the Groupe’s business with P&G in South China.

Richard will play a strategic role in driving the growth of Liquid as a renewed and valued total omnicommerce enterprise in the region, with a focus on enhancing the agency offering, structuring agency capability and striking the right balance and focus between online and offline shopper marketing. He will also focus on building partnerships to leverage data to create effective in-store shopper strategies for clients as well as meeting the aspirations of shoppers for more personal and tailored experiences.

A trailblazer in marketing and retail with extensive global experience, Richard works at the meeting point of communication and commerce and is recognised as an industry thought leader and passionate advocate for ideas. He is also credited with establishing and building to scale the first dedicated Shopper Marketing Agency in MENA Region (Saatchi & Saatchi X) as its Managing Director from 2009-2012. Richard is also a Board Member of Shop! Greater China, the industry body dedicated to promoting excellence at POP/ Retail.

Originally trained as a designer in the UK, Richard has been immersed in global retail for over 25 years, with experience firmly rooted in creative strategy, brand building, commerce planning and business leadership.

Since its launch two years ago in Dubai, Liquid Omnicommerce has grown to an agency of over 40 specialists and evolved as a prime driver of omni commerce in the region by delivering market-winning brand intelligence. Richard will further accelerate the growth of Liquid as a premier advocate for creativity in commerce as well as inspire clients on the untapped potential of omni commerce.


Following its merge with California-based content distribution and media solutions leader Vigor, CVG expects to double in size in APAC within 12 months, positioning itself as a serious contender in the global content production and distribution industry. Existing Chimney offices in Singapore and Sydney, as well as Vigor’s Seoul office, will now also offer both content creation and distribution and management services.

 

Operational from Q3 2019 with full implementation by March 2020, CVG will become one of the leading privately-owned content studios in APAC. Combining Vigor’s tech experience of managing masses of content with Chimney’s communications creative solutions, CVG will become fully equipped to create, manage and distribute thousands of content assets per month, and expects to double its revenue and client base in the coming years.

 

Vigor operates the biggest and most advanced content distribution network and monitoring system in the broadcast industry, delivering nearly 75% of syndicated TV content in the US, with clients including giants CBS, Fox and Warner. Founded in 1996 in Sweden, The Chimney Group built its reputation as an innovative global creative studio with offices in four continents, using a unique mix of creativity and smart content management and distribution. Its client roster includes Netflix, Facebook, H&M, and Atlas Copco, among hundreds of others. Employing nearly 500 people, CVG expects to gain significant control of this explosive video market, continuing to service existing as well as new multinational and larger local clients.


JordanEnterprise cloud computing OS leader, Nutanix has appointed Jordan Reizes as its new Vice President of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan.

Based in Sydney, Reizes will be responsible for driving the enterprise cloud leader’s marketing strategy and sales support as the company continues its regional expansion. Since Asia is a key market for Nutanix, his appointment is a clear signal of its continued expansion, growth and commitment to the region.

The role will see Reizes report to Nutanix Chief Marketing Officer, Ben Gibson and lead the 30 strong marketing team across ANZ, ASEAN, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

With over more than 20 years of senior marketing leadership roles, Reizes is suitably placed to help drive the enterprise cloud OS leader’s growth and ambitions in the region. He joins the company from Sitecore, where he was Senior Director APJ Field Marketing in a role that saw him rebuild and lead the field regional marketing organisation.

Prior to that he had four years at SimpliVity as Senior Director, APJ Field Marketing and Global Programmes, and seven years at EMC that saw him rise to lead the transformation of their Global Marketing Programs.

Reizes appointment is part of an increased investment in Asia by Nutanix that includes a new flagship regional office in Singapore, a rapid and continuing expansion of the sales team, and a greater focus on larger enterprises. Nutanix also plans to move into its new Sydney located, A/NZ headquarters in late October.


oracleTo support its customers around the world, Oracle announced its plans to launch 20 new Oracle Cloud regions by the end of 2020, for a total of 36 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure regions. In addition, the company will update the roadmap for its interconnect with Microsoft Azure.

More customers and partners can harness the power of Oracle Cloud to unlock innovation and drive business growth. Customers can deploy both production and disaster recovery capacity within their country or jurisdiction to meet business continuity and compliance requirements, besides getting access to all Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services including Oracle Autonomous Database; as well as Oracle Fusion Applications, in these regions.

Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle Analytics, and platform services for application development and integration, will be available in these regions: Oracle Fusion Applications now run on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in five data center regions and will be available in all global regions within a few months after each region’s launch. This will be the most distributed cloud application platform in the market, able to satisfy in-country and in-jurisdiction data sovereignty requirements. Customers requiring integration between Oracle Cloud Applications and on-premise applications will also benefit from the global availability of cloud-based integration services.

Specifically architected to meet the needs of the enterprise, Oracle’s Generation 2 Cloud offers customers a compelling array of advanced Cloud Services. With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, customers benefit from best-in-class security, consistent high performance, simple predictable pricing, and the tools and expertise needed to bring enterprise workloads to cloud quickly and efficiently.


rice logo 38pxhRICE announced a number of new client wins, bolstering its portfolio across sectors.

One key win is ZALORA, Asia’s leading online fashion destination, which has appointed RICE Singapore to support its regional corporate communications strategy and program. RICE is also now the communications agency of record in Singapore for global analytics platform leader Tableau as well as Solace, which provides event-driven technology to large enterprises.

 

Additionally, RICE has renewed its partnership with the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), which promotes a giving culture in Singapore through developing and facilitating partnerships with individuals, organizations, and leaders to build a City of Good.


Image of Wootag ad unitsAdAsia announced a partnership with video marketing and analytics platform, Wootag, to integrate and deliver Wootag’s interactive video advertising units through the AdAsia Premium Marketplace.

Wootag’s interactive video ad unit enables advertisers to serve video ads that feature in-video interactions including the ability for users to perform, at various points of the video advertisement, purchases, sign-ups, participate in polls, receive promotions, view product catalogs, make bookings, view store locations, and more, without leaving the video ad. This allows advertisers to drive more interactive and outcome-oriented advertisement engagement and provides a seamless advertising experience for users.

Publishers can simply implement a single AdAsia ad tag to access available display and video formats and demand, including Wootag’s interactive video ad unit, dynamically placed on a page based on content density and user behavior. Advertisers can programmatically access Wootag’s interactive video ad unit through the AdAsia Premium Marketplace or Wootag platform, and deliver advertising to viewable, brand-safe inventory across more than 880 premium publishers throughout Asia, such as Kompas, The Philippine Daily Inquirer and Pantip.


Qualtrics demonstrated its growing investment and expertise in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) with three new senior appointments to its Research Services & Strategy team.

 

Lisa Khatri has been promoted to the new role of Research and Brand Experience Lead in APJ. In her role, Lisa will provide customers with expert advice and consulting services to guide, enable and support best in class Research and Experience Management (XM) programs. She will also focus on developing and building Qualtrics’ research and brand capabilities, including brand tracking programs, to help organisations unlock and integrate the insights needed to grow their brands in the experience economy.

Sam Burgess and Bill Guo join Qualtrics as Research Experts. They bring almost 30 years’ collective research experience from time at brands including GfK and FiftyFive5 respectively. Sam and Bill boost Qualtrics’ local consulting expertise used by many brands, including Qantas, Volkswagen, and Finder.

The new appointments reflect the ultra-rapid growth and growing expertise and presence of Qualtrics in APJ since its 2015 launch. By the end of 2019, the company aims to increase the size of its APJ workforce to more than 200 - an expansion of more than 100 in less than 12 months.


OMGAt the recently held Singapore Media Awards 2019, organised by the local chapter of the 4As, Omnicom Media Group agencies took home the majority of accolades won this year.

OMD Singapore was named ‘Media Agency of the Year’ after taking home the Grand Prix and four other awards for its work on McDonald’s and Singtel, while PHD Singapore won a total of 8 accolades, making it the most-awarded agency of the night.

OMD Singapore’s campaigns for McDonald’s were celebrated as best-in-class for the following categories: ‘Best Use of Programmatic’, ‘Best Use of Experiential Marketing’, ‘Best Use of Technology’, while the ’50 Years of Big Mac’ campaign was also awarded the coveted Grand Prix. The wins also led to McDonald’s being named both ‘Best International Brand’ and ‘Brand of the Year’, while Agatha Yap, Senior Director – Marketing and Innovation, was named ‘Marketer of the Year’. Additionally, OMD’s ‘GOMO’ campaign for Singtel was awarded Best Insight-Driven campaign. As a result of its numerous wins, the agency was also named Singapore’s ‘Media Agency of the Year’ at the end of the night.

Meanwhile, PHD Singapore took home a total of 8 accolades on the night, making it the most-awarded agency of the night. These include 4 wins for its work on clients such as VW (Best Use of Search), HP (Best Use of Mobile) and SAP (Best Use of Data and Best Business-to-Business Campaign). The remaining accolades came when the agency’s talent shined in the People awards, taking home 4 out of the 7 accolades in this category. These include Bright Spark of the Year (Kitty Walker, Manager); Programmatic Specialist (Brigitte Yi, Activation Specialist); Communications Strategist of the Year (Cassie Ng, Associate Director); and Performance Specialist of the Year (Janelle Vila, Performance Director).


RubenSupernova, the eCommerce brand builder behind names such as Sand & Sky and Coco & Eve has announced the appointment of Ruben Stappers as its Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Ruben comes to Supernova from the ZALORA Group, where he spent over three years building for scale and sustainability as their Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Previous to this, Ruben spent time as CFO at the former Philips Lifestyle Entertainment business which then spun off into Gibson Innovations, and has a long history working at Philips across business and finance roles spanning the entire value chain.

Supernova is a leading brand incubator, building a new generation of digital native brands through the power of eCommerce and direct-to-consumer, with proven scalable business models. Since 2013, Supernova has helped launch four global beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands including; Sand & Sky, Coco & Eve, BodyBoss and Skinnymint, with a number of new brands and product launches in the pipeline.

Ruben joined the team in August 2019 and will be working out of Supernova’s head office in Singapore. Supernova operates worldwide and also has offices in LA, London, Delhi and Melbourne.

Supernova’s Co-Founder and Chairwoman, Emily Hamilton, says Ruben’s appointment will allow the company to further strengthen and cement their presence in the eCommerce world, as they continue to build global brands from Singapore.


Kulmeet BawaResulticks, the real-time conversation marketing cloud, announced plans to grow its local presence and partner ecosystem further in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines in order to meet the growing demand from brands in Southeast Asia for advanced omnichannel marketing solutions.

With Resulticks’ omnichannel reach, brands can coordinate marketing campaigns across all relevant channels, including social media, emails, eCommerce platforms, mobile apps, SMS and digital assistants. Resulticks enables integrated campaigns by bridging the gap with offline channels using technology such as QR codes and location beacons in conjunction with robust customer data.

Resulticks recently appointed Kulmeet Bawa as its Chief Operating officer, given its strong foothold in South East Asia and India, based in Singapore. Kulmeet will play a pivotal role in formulating global strategy and driving marketing and business development efforts. He brings more than 28 years of cross-functional experience working with brands such as Adobe, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems and is known to challenge the status quo, embrace innovation, and digital transformation.

To support and drive growth, Resulticks will be working with partners across the region including Montivory in Thailand, and Cloudian in Singapore and The Philippines. Furthermore, Resulticks will pairs robust customer data management capabilities with AI and machine-learning to enable brands to better deliver seamless customer journeys and individualized interactions with customers in real time.


PunsakAnyMind Group announced the appointment of Punsak Limvatanayingyong as Country Manager for AnyMind Group in Thailand, where he will be responsible for driving business growth for the AdAsia and CastingAsia business lines.

Limvatanayingyong started his career in marketing, holding roles at Cementhai and Universal Music (Thailand). In 2004, he founded Mobile Indy, a company that helps independent music labels and musicians monetize their music through digital platforms and became the first YouTube multi-channel network in Thailand. In 2017, the company was acquired by TV Thunder Public Company Limited (TV Thunder) and renamed Moindy, expanding into additional verticals.

In March 2019, AnyMind Group acquired a majority stake in Moindy from TV Thunder, integrating Moindy’s network into CastingAsia, an influencer marketing business line by AnyMind Group.

Following the successful integration of Moindy and scaling of expertise, CastingAsia has evolved its offerings for marketing and communications professionals, influencers and content creators from a pure-play influencer marketing platform, into:

  • Marketing and communications professionals: an end-to-end influencer marketing platform that allows users to discover, activate, manage and track influencer marketing activity, and local teams with influencer marketing expertise across Asia for product onboarding, campaign strategy, planning and management
  • Talent, influencers and content creators: an influencer activity dashboard that enables users to gain account and follower insights, join campaigns, manage their activity, and track activity performance. Through the CastingAsia Creators Network, talent, influencers and content creators can access resources that include account optimization, content strategy, production, and editing, and learning resources


Starting off in April 2016 as AdAsia Holdings in Singapore, the reorganized AnyMind Group has expanded into over 500 staff across 13 offices in 11 markets and runs three business lines by now: AdAsia, CastingAsia and TalentMind. Three companies (FourM, Acqua Media and Moindy) have been acquired so far and a total funding of US$35.9 million from investors could be achieved.


SusanaSusana Tsui will join theAsianparent as the new CEO of Media. This appointment comes after theAsianparent’s recent announcement on its market expansion plans and entrance into the ecommerce market, following its latest 8-figure Series C funding round led by Chinese tech giants Fosun and JD.com.

Ms. Tsui has held various notable appointments in the Marketing and Advertising industry, including Asia Pacific CEO of PHD and Asia Pacific COO of OgilvyOne. Prior to joining theAsianparent, she was the Group CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network China (DAN), managing over 22 agency brands across 5 cities in the country. With her strong experience in the advertising, marketing and adtech industries, Ms. Tsui has been tasked with strengthening theAsianparent brand across mature and new markets. As CEO of Media, she will also helm theAsianparent’s content, community and media platforms, including theAsianparent website and community app that is currently still the number one parenting app in Southeast Asia since its September 2018 launch.


Prophet, a leading global consulting firm that helps clients unlock uncommon growth, has announced the opening of its Singapore office, making it the third in Asia in addition to its existing Hong Kong and Shanghai offices. The Singapore office will be Prophet’s Southeast Asia hub for business growth and client support.

Previously based in Prophet’s Hong Kong office, Jacqueline Alexis Thng will be returning to her home country to lead Prophet’s Singapore office, bringing more than 20 years’ industry experience and a track record of success working with leading companies in the region. She is also a well-known thought leader, having recently chaired the MoneyLIVE: Digital Banking APAC in Singapore.

Prophet has been named as one of the 'Best Management Consulting Firms' by Forbes three years in a row from 2016 to 2018, and was also honored with 7 awards, including 4 Gold awards, at Transform Awards Asia-Pacific 2018, the prestigious international award recognizing excellence in brand development. Prophet publishes the annual Brand Relevance IndexTM for China, U.S., U.K., Germany, helping brand leaders measure the relevance of their brands to consumers and providing them with a practical framework for unlocking uncommon growth. In September 2019, Prophet will unveil its fifth annual Brand Relevance IndexTM.