VMLY&R names Preethi Sanjeevi SG lead to replace Shirley Tay

VMLY&R has promoted Preethi Sanjeevi (pictured), managing director, content and campaigns, to the role of managing director - Singapore, replacing Shirley Tay who recently returned to Ogilvy as executive group director in Singapore. Co-CEO of VMLY&R Asia Tripti Lochan said in a statement to Marketing that Sanjeevi is a digital first agency leader who has been with VML since 2006, and has an excellent understanding of the business, the industry, where it wants to be and what it will take to get there. "Her promotion represents another exciting step in our mission to be the most relevant and contemporary agency offering in the market, delivering world-class work and creating connected brands which outstrip the competition at every turn," Lochan said. She also wished Tay the very best of luck in her new role. "We are very grateful for her dedicated service and leadership over the past two years," Lochan added. In September last year, WPP merged VML and Y&R to form VMLY&R, appointing Lochan and Yi Chung Tay as co-CEOs of VMLY&R Asia. Prior to the move, Lochan was CEO of Southeast Asia and India, while Tay was CEO of VML China. Fully operational in early 2019, the new entity combines brand experience and brand advertising, drawing on the complementary expertise of VML and Y&R to create connected brands that drive value for clients. This is in a bid to “deliver a contemporary, fully integrated digital and creative offering to clients on a global scale”. The move to combine VML and Y&R is also one of several mergers WPP has made over the past year, the most recent being J. Walter Thompson and Wunderman to form Wunderman Thompson. It also merged Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe to create Burson Cohn & Wolfe, as well as Maxus and MEC to form Wavemaker.