foodpanda's APAC director of advertising and partnerships steps down

Toni Ruotanen is stepping down from his role as director of advertising and partnerships APAC at food delivery firm foodpanda.

The director shared news of his departure on LinkedIn after just over a year in the role. He will commence his new position in a different company on 1 March 2024. 

"It has been a short 16 months. It might be short, but it for sure has been a very eventful and enjoyable time in the advertising and partnerships team in APAC. But [I] was given an opportunity that I could not say 'no' to. Hence the tough decision to leave," he wrote. 

Don't miss: foodpanda HK onboards Oatly's Amanda Chan as head of PR 

In his post, Ruotanen also praised his APAC advertising and partnerships team, including senior director Kiranjeet Purba, director of solutions, Wen Zhe Lim, head of data and ad operations Derek Goh, head of advertising and partnerships Alisa Ang and Minh Hien To. 

"Could not have asked for a better group of people to call my peers," he said. "It might be farewell for now, but the world is small, and I know our paths will cross again," said Ruotanen. 

Ruotanen joined foodpanda in October 2022. In his role, he helped advertisers, partners and brands grow their business through the use of the foodpanda platform. 

According to foodpanda, Melissa Chan, senior manager, industry finance and insurance - advertising and partnerships and Pamela Ng, senior manager, industry - non-CPG, advertising and partnerships, will continue to work with Purba to continue establishing foodpanda as a retail media network.

Prior to his role at foodpanda, Ruotanen spent three years at Group M. He joined in 2019 as its head of commerce for the APAC region and led the group's eCommerce investment in Asia Pacific. He also handled consulting services, digital marketing and store management and fulfilment services in his role. 

Ruotanen has also had stints in companies such as Lazada as its head of strategic project management, RedMart as its director of marketplace seller management and honestbee as its country manager and managing director. 

Ruotanen's departure comes shortly after ex-foodpanda marketing director Laura Kantor launched her own agency in Singapore called Climate Club. 

According to Kantor, the agency specialises in sustainability communications and fills a gap in the industry. 

"Very few businesses take sustainability seriously. It’s often only talked about on Earth Day, or with a one-off PR stunt, and it doesn’t have to be the case,” said Kantor.

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