Publicis Groupe APAC bolsters team with talent shuffle

Publicis Groupe has promoted Ed Booty (pictured) as chief strategy officer of Publicis Groupe APAC. In this newly-created role, he will lead the agency's strategic engagement with clients, and bring together the talents of strategists across the Groupe. He will continue to be based in Singapore and will continue reporting to Loris Nold, CEO, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Publicis Groupe.

The agency has also appointed Wee Ching Ian, as CEO of PMX (Publicis Media Exchange) APAC. Wee was previously CEO of Starcom China, as well as ex-COO of PMX China. Based in Singapore, Wee is tasked to expand the agency's regional media partnerships and investment practices.

Meanwhile, Sapna Nemani, who is currently the chief intelligence officer of Publicis Media Greater China has been appointed chief product and solution officer, Publicis Groupe APAC. Nemani will be leading the product, solution and data-lead intelligence initiatives in this newly-created role, and will be based in Shanghai. Nemani joined Leo Burnett as regional director back in 2007, and has previously helmed roles such as regional director at MediaCom and CEO, Greater China at Starcom. Both Nemani and Wee will continue to report to Jane Lin-Baden, managing partner of Publicis Groupe APAC.

The new appointments were made to bolster Publicis Groupe's capabilities and products offering in APAC. Nold said it is a priority for the agency to complement its country model across different APAC markets with leaders around products and expertise. "[Nemani, Wee, and Booty] have been with us for years, are incredibly talented senior professionals with a proven track record and have been absolutely instrumental in transforming our relationships with our clients. I couldn’t think of a better team to make sure that we drive innovative ideas and cross team solutions, bringing together data, media and creativity to create even more business impact for our clients," Nold added.

Last year, Publicis Singapore also had a number of hires to boost its strategic planning group. Belinda Green was appointed as the group planning director, while Ali Rezgui joined the agency as group planning director. Grace Fung was also appointed as planning director. Additionally, the agency hired Paul Yap, Christina Tien, and Ayden Koh as new members of the strategic planning group after they graduated from a data science program with general assembly.

In a statement to Marketing then, the agency said the hires were made due to the 39 new business wins since January – including Health Promotion Board, Emirates Airlines, and Yili. “Publicis Communications is enhancing its ability to deliver an alchemy of data and creativity to aid clients in their marketing transformation. The newly strengthened strategy team is set to act as an accelerator to realise Publicis’ vision of helping its clients to become and remain leaders in their categories,” the agency had said.

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