PHD Appoints Eileen Ooi to Lead Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur | 11 October 2016 – In an effort to sharpen the focus on the continued growth of Malaysia, PHD has appointed Eileen Ooi to lead its Malaysia operations. As Head of PHD Malaysia, Eileen will lead all business functions with a mandate to drive business momentum and transforming the agency to the next level of success. Eileen will be reporting to newly appointed CEO of Omnicom Media Group Singapore & Malaysia - Ranga Somanathan and her appointment is effective from mid-October.

Eileen joins PHD with more than 14 years’ experience in communication & media planning, brand strategies, client leadership and team management. Prior to PHD, Eileen was the General Manager, Strategy & Platforms at Maxus Malaysia responsible for leading Maxus' operations with a focus on enhancing client relationships and growth strategy for the agency in the areas of commercial, digital, strategy, and innovation. Over the course of her career, Eileen has worked in senior leadership roles in media agencies (including being a regional strategic planner on the P&G account) and built her strengths in brand management and strategy, leading change in teams and mentoring the next generation of talent.

Commenting on the appointment, Susana Tsui, CEO, PHD APAC, said, “PHD markets in SEA have been gathering strong momentum over the past few months and the Malaysia is a key market within the region. Eileen is a highly self-motivated, creative and versatile agency leader who can build on PHD’s strong foundation in communications planning, innovation, digital and grow our capabilities in Malaysia. Eileen’s experience will not only strengthen our operations but act as a catalyst of change to drive PHD Malaysia to be a leading player in the industry.”

On her new role, Eileen Ooi said, “It is truly exciting to be part of a fast growing and forward thinking agency. PHD's philosophy of being a planning-led media agency and its bold culture are qualities that sets it apart in the industry. We are at an interesting tipping point today, as the era of Artificial Intelligence converge with communication planning. With its renowned global planning platform - SOURCE, I believe PHD is in a great position to partner with our clients to innovate and build successful brands. I look forward to continue to build upon PHD's strong foundations and take Malaysia into greater heights."

# # #

For more information, please contact: Arundhati Saha (Arun), Marketing Communications Director APAC

Arundhati.saha@omnicommediagroup.com

+65 6876 6809 (DL) +65 96609741 (M)

Notes to editors:

About PHD (www.phdmedia.com)

PHD Worldwide is known globally as an innovator in communications planning and buying across broadcast, print, digital, mobile, social and emerging media. Built on a culture of thought leadership, PHD’s philosophy is “Finding a Better Way.” PHD is one of the world’s fastest growing and most awarded media and communication agencies, with over 3,000 staff working in over 80 offices worldwide.

PHD’s was named Global Media Agency of the Year 2013 at the Cristal Awards and also received Agency of the Year accolades in the UK, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Shanghai, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Sweden for the same year.

PHD was the most successful media network at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, winning more Gold Lions than any other agency. A total of four Gold and one Bronze were awarded, with a further 38 awards as the credited media agency, bringing PHD’s tally of awards to 43.

The PHD network is part of the Omnicom Media Group (www.omnicommediagroup.com), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC).

Mcdonald’s splits with Leo Burnett, consolidates with Omnicom

After four months of review, McDonald’s has decided to end their 35-year relationship with Leo Burnett. The global fast food chain has chosen Omnicom over Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett to handle it U.S. creative account.

Deborah Wahl, chief marketing officer of McDonald’s USA, said that Omnicom will be McDonald’s new partner for all the national marketing projects starting January 1, 2017. Further, she stated that Omnicom has built a “new agency of the future” with McDonald’s that has digital and data at heart allowing them to be “customer obsessed” in everything that they do.

Following the win, Omnicom will launch a separate unit based in Chicago that will make the marketing initiatives of McDonald’s. The still un-named unit will be in coordination with DDB and other Omnicom media agencies including Annalect, sparks & honey, Critical Mass, and others.

In an interview with DDB North America CEO Wendy Clark, she said pitching for one of the most iconic brands was a hard-fought win. Their main goals were to “create, operationalize, and deliver” what was briefed to them. Hence, DDB created a customized agency for the brand which constitutes all the best and brightest talents they have across all the agencies of Omnicom.

The decision of McDonald’s really reverberated in the business community, especially in advertising industry, and ended one of the most closely watched reviews in the past years. The spokesperson of Leo Burnett said that the news was very disappointing for them; however, they are proud and thankful for the chance given by McDonald’s to work with them for 35 years. Still, Leo Burnett wishes McDonald’s continued success .Two of their compelling ad campaigns for McDonald’s was “All Day Breakfast” and “I’m Lovin’ it”. Wahl mentioned in an interview that there’s still uncertainty on whether to retain the famous tag line or not, but for now it will still be used.

Earlier this year, there have been rumors that during the review, which included WWP, Omnicom, and Publicis Groupe, that WWP dropped out the race for Mcdonald’s account. Some sources say that it was because the multimillion food chain was asking the companies to work at cost. But Wahl and WPP refuted the issue and declined to elaborate on it.

Regardless of the controversies McDonald’s has faced with regard to retaining market sales, the giant fast food chain still remains as one of the biggest single advertisers in the United States.

Omnicom Media Group Tops Media Lions Winners List

CANNES, France (June 24, 2016) –   For the fourth time in five years, Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), tops the list of media agency holding company winners at the annual Cannes Festival of Creativity, with its  agencies OMD and PHD taking home a total of 15  Media Lions. 

 OMD was the most awarded agency network in the category, earning a total of 11 Media Lions – one gold, three silver and seven bronze; OMD was also the credited partner for the Grand Prix winners in the PR, Creative Effectiveness and Mobile categories.  PHD earned one gold, one silver and two bronze Media Lions. 

The combined performance from OMD and PHD propelled Omnicom Media Group to the top of the category, winning more than twice as many Media Lions as the next most awarded media holding company.  

OMD Wins Span Globe and Categories

OMD’s 11 Media Lions were awarded for work across a broad spectrum of client categories - including automotive, CPG, financial services, media, retail, sports goods, and technology - submitted by OMD agencies across the globe.  Winning agencies, clients and campaigns included: 

 GOLD LION
• OMD Dominican Republic –  “Ending the Silence” campaign for La Sirena

SILVER LION
• OMD UK -  “Humans” campaign for Channel 4 (2)
• OMD Dominican Republic – Ending the Silence campaign for La Sirena

BRONZE LION
• OMD Italy – “Business Booster” for Renault
• OMD Sweden – “Slow Down GPS” campaign for IF Insurance
• OMD UAE – “Champions Huack”  campaign for Go Sport
• OMD UAE – “I Can Teach You Too” for Dubai Cares
• OMD UK –  “Hunted” campaign for Channel 4
• MGOMD – “Campaign to Combat Loneliness” for John Lewis
• OMD USA – “Intel Winter Games” for Intel


Strong Showing for PHD APAC Agencies

Three of PHD’s four wins were claimed by APAC agencies, including a  Gold Media Lion won by PHD New Zealand for DB Breweries “Brewtroleum” campaign; a Bronze won by PHD Australia for Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s “ Smart Girls – Equal Future” campaign; and aBronze won by PHD India for Hindustan Unilever’s Lo Kar Lo Bat” campaign.  PHD UK took a Silver Lion for Sainsbury’s “Sharing the Gift of Reading at Christmas” campaign. 

 “The scale and scope of Omnicom Media Group’s  win at Cannes this year proves  that relentless focus on excellence, innovation and talent always achieves results,” says Daryl Simm, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Worldwide, “not only in terms of industry recognition, but most importantly, in driving business growth for our clients.” 

 About Omnicom Media Group

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) is the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc.(NYSE: OMC), the leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company, providing services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries. Omnicom Media Group includes the full service networks OMD, PHD and Hearts &Science; the Annalect global data and analytics platform; the Accuen global programmatic buying platform; global performance marketing agency Resolution Media; as well as a number of specialty media communications companies.