Y&R hires Australian Peter Skalberg to lead Indochina operation
Y&R has hired Australian Peter Skalberg, who started his career in George Patterson Bates in Melbourne in 1987, to run its Indochina operation.
Since his time in Melbourne, Skalberg has worked at a number of the big ad agency groups in Asia including Y&R, and comes in as Vincent Van Dessel steps down after just under a year and a half as CEO of Y&R Vietnam, and a short spell leading the business in Myanmar.
Skalberg, known in the industry as “Skally”, will manage Y&R’s operations in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. He moves from Jakarta, where he has been running the Garnier business for Publicis Indonesia for the last nine months, to Ho Chi Minh City.
Over a 20-year career in advertising managing clients such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and Marina Bay Sands, Skalberg has worked at Bates Vietnam, then in Singapore, Rediffusion Y&R India and McCann in Shanghai and Singapore.
“I am very much looking forward to returning to Vietnam and the Y&R family and helping the team strengthen, build and deliver outstanding award-winning creative ideas for our clients,” Skalberg said in a press statement from the agency.
Sanjay Bhasin, CEO Y&R Southeast Asia, commented: “We welcome Peter at an exciting time for Y&R in Indochina, with Y&R Vietnam having just won Agency of the Year Silver, and Y&R Yangon having won Myanmar’s first ever Cannes Lions. Peter’s extensive experience in Asia Pacific makes him the ideal choice to drive the sub-region and leverage its creative potential for our clients.”
Y&R launched an Indochina network early last year, and was initially led by Matthew Collier out of Ho Chi Minh City. Collier has since moved to Jakarta to run the WPP agency’s Indonesian business. Van Dessel replaced him in September last year.
Robin Hicks
