Independent creative agency Carbon bolsters regional leadership with new regional ECD role

Hong Kong and Singapore based independent APAC creative agency Carbon has appointed Lincoln Damen (pictured) as its regional executive creative director. He will be reporting to Tereza Tan, founder and chief creative officer, as well as group managing director Damien Bell.

In this newly created role, Damen will oversee Carbon’s entire creative capability in its Hong Kong and Singapore offices. With vast experience as creative director in large scale corporations, Damen has served regional and global markets with agencies such as TBWA, based in Shanghai, and Imagination, based in Hong Kong. 

Damen will be included in the regional leadership team that Carbon has recently assembled as part of its long-term strategy for growth. Damen will helm a team which includes Clara Ho, who was previously HK group creative director of Grey Hong Kong, Stratos Efstahiou as Hong Kong creative director who recently joined from Ogilvy Hong Kong, and filmmaker and creative director Ahmad Saleh.

Key commercial positions have also been confirmed, with Angie Akaraskul appointed as business director for Singapore, and Kelly Chin promoted to business director of the Hong Kong office earlier this year. Akaraskul brings valuable experience from her time at Dentsu and smaller agencies such as Culture Group, while Chin has been with Carbon since 2016.

The new leadership team will also report to Tan and Bell. Bell emphasises that the selection of the team members was done with great care and attention, seeking not only leaders but also pillars of the business, inspirational mentors, and individuals who will collectively lead Carbon into a new chapter while building upon the existing foundations.

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Commenting on the new role, Damen said: “As a team and business, we will be heavily focused on expanding and diversifying our creative offering through the adoption and integration of new creative innovations and emerging technologies- VR, anamorphic display, holographic, interactive experiential and beyond."

“There are endless opportunities to create uniquely engaging content experiences for brands and their customers,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bell said, “This is a newly created role to oversee the creative teams in Hong Kong and Singapore. The objective is to ensure that we have a robust leadership team in place to support and drive our growth in these markets.”

Currently, Carbon works across domestic and international markets on a client level and projects level, including clients in the US, UK, HK, SGP, China.

Founded by Tan in 2004, Carbon initially operated as a production studio that supported network agencies in film, VFX, and motion graphics production. However, in recent years, the company shifted its focus to directly support brands, bridging the gap between advertising agencies and small production shops. Carbon now combines its technical design and production capabilities with a team of storytellers and creative thinkers to offer comprehensive content solutions.

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