Vice Media Group appoints APAC sales and brand partnerships lead
Vice Media Group has appointed Lou Wee to lead sales and brand partnerships across Asia Pacific with a focus on Vice World News.
Wee joins from the South China Morning Post where as head of sales he helped accelerate the Post’s early advertising recovery amidst this global pandemic, driving revenue growth especially across its digital and branded content business. He has also held senior commercial roles at CNBC Asia and The Wall Street Journal Asia, helping pioneer their branded content studios including CNBC’s Catalyst.
In APAC, Vice Media Group operates four media brands, Vice, Vice World News, i-D and Refinery29, with nine offices, more than 150 employees and editorial presences in 16 countries.
It was announced in March last year that Pedestrian Group would be reviving both Vice Australia and Refinery29. The Refinery29 team has already been launched, with the team announced in June.
Vice World News produces hundreds of hours of television, digital and audio programming for global audiences, with editorial teams in Singapore, Australia, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the Philippines, as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2021 the APAC team released 80 documentaries, as well as The Unfiltered History, an AR guide to the British Museum’s most disputed artefacts.
Vice World News’ coverage of the Ukraine-Russia conflict has spanned breaking news, explainers and exclusives across various formats and social media platforms. Its’ videos on TikTok have garnered over 150 million views.
As VP of sales and brand partnerships, Wee will continue building Vice’s reputation as leaders of branded content in Asia and drive commercial partnerships for Vice World News.
Wee said: “I have worked in advertising sales my entire life and a decade’s been spent within news media alone. There’s no better time to join Vice than now, when brands have increasing options and the advertising growth potential for a media company such as Vice, with a clear and distinct audience differentiator is significant.”
Positioned to address the growing news consumption needs of millennials and generation Z, Vice World News has partnered with brands including Standard Chartered Bank, Zurich and Levi’s to create branded editorial content for these audiences.
Melbourne-based Myki Slonim, senior vice president, digital APAC & Middle East added: “Vice Media Group is on a roll across Asia, with audience growth flying and our unique storytelling going gangbusters across all platforms. As brands in the region realise the need to connect with younger audiences more through content, we’ve become the go-to partner for them to navigate this space with authenticity, style and scale.
“Lou brings tremendous expertise in orchestrating meaningful brand partnerships, particularly in the news space in which we have great ambitions for Vice World News across the region.”
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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