BBDO China promotes Owen Smith as head of planning

BBDO has promoted Owen Smith as head of planning at BBDO South China.In this newly created role, Smith will partner with BBDO South China managing director, JC Catibog, and BBDO South China ECD, Kevin Lynch, to complete the BBDO South China management team.His will be tasked to build and lead a team of strategic thought-leaders to help shape The Work for BBDO and Proximity’s Guangzhou and Hong Kong-based clients.On top of that, he will also be responsible to drive new business and to work with both Catibog and Lynch on other key agency management initiatives.“His passion for creating work that works, and crafting game-changing strategies to make that happen, is exactly what we need at BBDO South China,” said Catibog.Smith first joins the agency’s China office in 2007 from BBDO New York where he was part of Omnicom’s multi-agency Bank of America planning team, leading planning duties on FedEx, Chrysler, Air New Zealand, Wrigley and PepsiCo Food and Beverages among others.In 2010, Smith became Regional Planning Director at BBDO Hong Kong where was responsible for strategic planning for the Mars/Wrigley portfolio – including chocolate, chewing gum and pet care brands. Additionally, he is the global strategy lead for Doublemint gum.Commenting on the promotion, Smith said: “I’m looking forward to continuing to handle a breadth of local and global responsibilities as well as taking on the new challenge of building a talented, inspired planning team at BBDO South China.”