Gary Tranter and Matt Cullen to oversee Digitas and Arcade as CCOs

Digitas has elevated Matt Cullen (pictured left) and Gary Tranter (pictured right) to chief creative officers overseeing both the Digitas and Arcade brands. Cullen and Tranter will both report into Annette Male, CEO APAC and Ronald Ng, global chief creative officer, Digitas. Prior to the move, both were co-founders and CCOs at Arcade.Meanwhile, Craig Howie has been appointed as the new executive creative director for Digitas Hong Kong. He will report into David Paysant, MD of Hong Kong as well as Tranter and Cullen.Howie began his career in Singapore in 2000, and has since worked all across Asia from Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong with some of the leading agencies globally, including Commonwealth McCann, J. Walter Thompson, BBH, Fallon and Tribal DDB. He has worked global brands including Chevrolet, Bayer, Johnnie Walker, AXE, Levi’s, Mentos and Volkswagen to name a few.“Having Tranter and Cullen onboard completes our data, tech and creative offering perfectly underpinning our new proposition around Truth, Connection and Wonder,” Annette Male, CEO APAC, Digitas, said.“Howie has an impressive track record. We are inspired by the work he has done around the region and excited by what he can bring to the work at Digitas. His passion for connecting the dots between data, media, tech and creativity aligns perfectly with the big ambitions we set for our clients’ brands,” Cullen and Tranter said.“Digitas has a great reputation, and some great clients in the region. I am excited by their unique capabilities around data as it opens up the creative opportunity in ways that will allow us to develop some exciting and differentiated work,” Howie added.In 2014, Publicis Worldwide acquired a minority stake in home grown Singaporean agency Arcade. Nick Marrett, founding partner and CEO of Arcade would not confirm the size of the stake, but said he would continue to lead the agency. Arcade’s key clients include CLEAR, Closeup, Pond’s, Rexona, IKEA, Coca-Cola, Bango, WeChat and Google.