Paul Soon heads to MullenLowe to lead consolidated SEA operations

MullenLowe Group has integrated its operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong to create MullenLowe Group Southeast Asia. The new hyperbundled agency will be led by Paul Soon as CEO of MullenLowe Group SEA, who will start the role in mid-March, reporting to Vincent Digonnet, CEO MullenLowe Group APAC.Prior to the appointment, Soon was most recently APAC CEO at POSSIBLE. He brings 18 years of leadership experience, pioneering integrated marketing in Singapore by setting up ADinc.com (Advertising and Digital) in 2000, which was subsequently bought out by AKQA. He then joined XM Asia where he held leadership positions for nine years, becoming APAC CEO in 2011 where he helped grow a single market agency into one that is now present in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong as Mirum.Under this new structure, Adrian Sng, managing director of MullenLowe Malaysia will report to Soon. Meanwhile,  Radhe Vaswani, currently managing director of MullenLowe Profero Southeast Asia based in Singapore will move to Hong Kong. She will take the newly created position of COO global clients for MullenLowe Profero, driving global engagements, most particularly for Harley Davidson, HSBC and Peninsula, and strengthening the global footprint of MullenLowe Profero from Asia. Vaswani will continue to report to Digonnet in her new role.According to the agency, the launch of MullenLowe Group Southeast Asia is the latest step in the building out of MullenLowe Group’s hyperbundled model across Asia, and follows on from the creation of MullenLowe Group China, MullenLowe Group Japan and MullenLowe Group Greater Mekong over the last six months.The hyperbundled agency will unite the MullenLowe creative communications business with MullenLowe Profero’s renowned digital expertise, MullenLowe Mediahub media planning, and the newly acquired corporate PR capability of MullenLowe Salt, across the three markets.“MullenLowe Group exists in essence to give our clients an unfair share of attention. I love that challenger mind-set and the entrepreneurial spirit that goes with it. Culture is a huge part of why I am attracted to MullenLowe Group. I look forward to working with Vincent and the regional leadership team to be the best version of ourselves over the years. Having built businesses from the ground up and led operations in the context of large groups, I look forward to combining both in joining a global boutique like MullenLowe Group," Soon said.“MullenLowe Group offers clients world-class capabilities across the full communications spectrum and the entire consumer journey,” said Vincent Digonnet, MullenLowe Group APAC CEO.“Singapore and Hong Kong are small domestic markets but huge market places, harbouring the headquarters of all major multinational corporations looking to develop their presence in the rest of Asia. As a starting point, it is very important to acknowledge the world-class creativity, recognised year after year in all major awards shows, coming out of our Singapore operation," Digonnet said.He explained that at the same time, it is crucial to build top level consulting capabilities, bringing together creativity in communication as well as in business transformation based on consumer insights, innovative media, technology, design, CX, UX, social, CRM and analytics. This will be combined in a "seamless model" that builds brands and helps transform experiences."Soon has the experience, the drive and a deep understanding of both brand building and business transformation, making him the ideal person to lead the charge. I am delighted to see him join our team at MullenLowe Group for this exciting new journey," Digonnet added.In December 2017, MullenLowe Singapore CEO Shannon Cullum left the agency to take on the chief marketing officer role at JET8, a locally-started social and mobile engagement company. Before that, he handled both the Singapore and Vietnam markets. In August, MullenLowe Group appointed Vincent Digonnet as its APAC CEO in August, taking over duties in the South and Southeast Asia region from Joseph George, who left after 26 years with MullenLowe Group.