New agency Luminous Labs launches in MY, hires SP Lee as creative director

Luminous Labs, a new advertising agency launching in Malaysia, has appointed ad veteran SP Lee as its creative director. Lee has over 30 years of experience in the industry, and was most recently the founder of Pocket Stories, providing brand consultancy and AV production.

Pocket Stories first launched in 2020 and focuses on branded content, pocket documentaries and ads. In conversation with A+M at the time, Lee said that competition for attention is harder and that getting a few seconds of someone's attention is a major accomplishment. “Pocket Stories comes from the fact that the first thing we turn to for stories in this thing in our pocket. Those ten of so square inches of screen on our mobiles is really the most expensive real estate in the world. Everyone wants a piece of it," said Lee. 

Don't miss: Publicis Groupe names Amit Sutha MY CEO

Prior to starting Pocket Stories, Lee took on the role of creative director at digital agency SearchGuru. Lee was also previously the CEO and executive creative director (ECD) at dentsu Malaysia for over 13 years from 2003 to 2016. During his time at dentsu, Lee headed up the growth of its Malaysia arm and set up dentsu Utama (renamed dentsu One) and dentsu Media in 2005 and 2012 respectively, according to his LinkedIn. Lee also held the role of ECD at FCB and ECD at Bates. 

Throughout his career, Lee has worked with the big brands such as Malaysia Airlines, Telekom Malaysia, Toyota, Lexus, Panasonic, Sime Darby, Canon, Shell, HSBC, Mercedes, Dutch Lady and more.  Lee is not the only big movement in the advertising industry in Malaysia. 

In January, Publicis Groupe appointed Amit Sutha as its Malaysia CEO. He will report to Publicis Groupe Singapore and Southeast Asia CEO, Amrita Randhawa. In his new role, Sutha will be fully responsible for all the operations of Publicis Groupe in the Malaysia market, from creative to media, influence, production, commerce, data, tech and clients. His priority will be to drive impact for the group's clients

In tandem, dentsu Creative Malaysia picked Uday Desai as its new managing director. In his new role, Desai will drive the evolution of its creative business. Prior to joining dentsu Creative Malaysia, Desai was an integrated client partner at dentsu Vietnam and the international business lead at Hakuhodo First. He also helmed the role of regional business director at BBDO Worldwide and was the chief client officer at Publicis One. 

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