Exec Moves & Industry Roundup: Havas Media Contacts, Upfront, and I-Media

Agency hires in the Philippines; Chinese mobile ad network I-Media poaches Baidu exec, including Jap firm Bilcom expanding into SEA markets.


Carlos Palma, exec director at Havas Media Contacts Philippines

Havas Media Contacts in the Philippines has appointed Carlos Palma as the agency’s executive director. He was formerly the MD of Nuffnang Philippines, a regional blog ad network. In his new role, Palma is responsible to grow the business for key clients and develop new discipline segments for the digital media arm of Havas Media Ortega, which officially launched in May. He reports to Eduardo Mapa, CEO of Media Contacts Philippines. In April, Media Contacts Philippines hired Joseph Sales as client service director to manage the Unilever and Nestle accounts. He was previously director of platforms at Omnicom Media Group in the country.

Fred Tshidimba is the new MD for Upfront Media in the Philippines. Upfront is a creative tech agency headquartered in Singapore and established in the Philippines since August 2009. Tshidimba will be tasked to ensure agency growth, which includes business development and client servicing to creative direction. Upfront’s client portfolio in the Philippines includes Nestle-Purina, Grant Thornton, and IBM. Tshidimba reports to Thorsten Nolte, founder and director of Upfront Media based in Singapore.

I-Media, which claimed to be the largest China-based mobile ad network, secured US$20 million series B funding from KPCB (Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers) China in July. Founded in 2010, the mobile ad network received its first financing from IDG. Its product offerings include the “LMMOB” ad network, enterprise mobile marketing tools “Qi Ye Bao,” and a self-service ad product “Bei Ke.”

Shu Yi, CEO of I-Media told Marbridge Daily that the company has forecast revenues of up to RMB 300 million this year. The bulk of it – 70 percent – will come from WAP in feature phones, with an increased focus on mobile apps using iOS and Android platforms.

Additionally, the Chinese mobile ad network recently poached Mike Liang to be its new CTO. Liang was previously a Google exec responsible for launching AdSense into eight new markets in Asia Pacific and involved with strategy for the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Platforms. Shortly after, he had a brief stint at Baidu as product architect tasked with developing the search giant’s PC and mobile ads system.

Japanese digital agency Bilcom has opened an office in Singapore to target the Southeast Asian markets. Headed by CEO Ryota Sugawara, it started operations in July servicing clients from Japanese companies initially, with plans to reach out to multinationals and local firms in the near future. Bilcom also has plans to roll out a development center in India, hiring local engineers, later this month.

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