Naomi Michael appointed regional comms chief for Mediabrands
IPG Mediabrands’ head of Asia Pacific, Leigh Terry has appointed former colleague Naomi Michael as head of marketing and communications across the region in one of his first senior hires since taking on the new role.
Michael: Has rejoined former boss Leigh Terry at Mediabrands
Terry joined IPG at the beginning of the year after more than a decade with Omnicom Media Group in Sydney, culminating as CEO of OMG Australia after several years in management roles at the group’s media agency OMD. He remains based in Australia for his new APAC role.
Michael left OMD last March after six years with the media agency. Her role is based in Singapore. She said: “IPG Mediabrands has been interesting to watch over the last 18 months. They have a unique brand proposition ‘dynamic by design’, which has been built into the structure of the organisation, and empowers both their people and their agency brands to remain agile, fast-paced, and entrepreneurial in their approach as the network continues to grow.”
IPG Mediabrands agencies include UM, Initiative, Ensemble and Reprise.
Terry said: “The creation of this role is an indication of the strength and footprint we have established, and continue to develop in the Asia-Pacific region. Our regional leadership team serve an increasingly crucial role in navigating and propagating the vast opportunity in this market.”
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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“After several tears in management”…no wonder he left….
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Hi Open Mike,
Thanks for flagging that – my bad, now sorted. I’ve always seen Leigh as a bit more stoic than that…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Yeah right. Bring on the Kool Aid. The agency brand remains fragile, pace of performance is lack lustre, they have killed any entrepreneurial spirit there ever was, driven away all old timers as the network adopts nepotism. The only criteria to qualify for top roles: being Australian. Mono culture by design – that is more like it.
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Terry said: “The creation of this role is an indication of the strength and footprint we have established, and continue to develop in the Asia-Pacific region. Our regional leadership team serve an increasingly crucial role in navigating and propagating the vast opportunity in this market.” – and that is why the head of APAC is sitting in Australia, managing the vast opportunities some 4000 miles away. Looks like the PR is already working like a charm Mumbrella.
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No local talent in Singspore?, mediabrands seem to be one big gravy train, pay huge salaries as long as you are Australian, where is the diversity
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Well deserved- Congrats Naomi, best of luck.
Mitch
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Hopefully this role will support the agency groups under the brand to talk and align – clients and the industry need this.
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No such thing. It is not the PR person’s job to do this – it is the CEO’s job and he is sitting in Australia. The PR person will only take news to the market. After years of cluster split, there is no inclination to bring the region as one. It was never the priority. What can you expect with a CFO in charge of APAC region sitting in Singapore? The teams are even more splintered than before. Plus there is a growing mistrust towards the mgmt. They are seen as ruthless and do not foster any team spirit. They have already set a bad precedent. You can’t undo that.
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Hi Yawn,
Australia is part of APAC too. Who says everything has to be managed from Singapore?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
They got rid of the local PR lead and brought in an Aussie. And there is no dearth of Asian talent. The local talent is far more clued into the agency structure, the regional media, the internal teams, and would be more affordable. But if they are not Australian, there is no place for them in the team.
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Hi Tim,
No doubt Australia is a part of APAC, but it is not wise for a CEO to be sat in Australia when all the other media companies/ agencies/ marketers are based in Singapore. Connections and relationships with each of the stakeholder group is important. As is the connection with their own team.This needs proximity and frequency of contact. It is simply not possible to manage a region as fragmented and diverse as Asia without being centrally located – be it in Singapore or at most in Hong Kong but never further away.
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