Ebiquity takes on R3 media biz head-on, promotes Leela Nair to APAC MD

Independent marketing and media consultancy, Ebiquity, has promoted Leela Nair to MD of Ebiquity Asia Pacific. Nair (pictured) joined Ebiquity in Singapore in 2015 as MD, Southeast Asia and has established the company in the marketplace. When she first came on board, Nair's focus markets were Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. According to Ebiquity in a press statement, Nair "has built a profitable business with a strong brand reputation", and claimed to have "displaced" R3 as the leading media consultancy in Southeast Asia.

During her career in the Asia Pacific media industry, Nair has helmed management positions at Mindshare, GroupM, Universal McCann, Zenith and OMD in Singapore and Australia, including time as MD of OMD Asia Pacific. She has also advised clients such as Unilever, L’Oreal, Nestle, Coca-Cola, J&J, GSK and Visa.

Nair said: "I am passionate in my belief that clients deserve transparent and independent advice to ensure they make the most of their media investment and agency relationships. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to expand on what we have achieved in Southeast Asia to the wider Asia Pacific region."

Meanwhile, group CEO of Ebiquity, Nick Waters, said he is looking forward to working with Nair to further develop the business in Asia Pacific. "The region is highly dynamic, fast moving, and home to two thirds of the world’s population, and represents a strong growth opportunity for our company. I can think of no-one better to lead our growth in the region," he added.

Waters joined Ebiquity in July this year after helming the role of executive chairman, UK and Ireland at Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) for more than a year. He was previously the network's Asia Pacific CEO for nine years. Waters told Marketing previously that his vision for the role is to come through this crisis in reasonable shape, and build on Ebiquity’s current leading position as a media and marketing consultant. "The role for consultancies grows as the landscape gets more complex. Marketers will benefit from objective advice to help them navigate the complexity," he added.

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