Grey Group has made three new hires in a bid to bolster its leadership core in Asia, with a special focus on Grey Group Singapore.
This includes Mans Tesch as chief strategy officer for Grey Group APAC, Marthinus Strydom as global creative leader, Team GSK at Grey Group Singapore, and Neil Cotton, who takes on the dual role as global strategy director for GSK and chief strategy officer for Grey Group Singapore.
The trio will play an instrumental role in deepening Grey Group Singapore’s creative offerings and creative processes, as well as drive the ongoing digital transformation of the company, across the region.
Key senior hire, Cotton’s career has seen him collaborate with many brands such as Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Heineken, Audi, IBM, and Nokia, amongst others. Prior to Grey, Cotton was the founder of Liberty Networks, a brand and innovation consultancy with Unilever, Infiniti, OCBC, and Channel NewsAsia amongst its clientele.
He has been in the industry for 27 years, previously holding a number of senior leadership roles at Ogilvy & Mather – New York, Bates – Hong Kong, Lowe Worldwide – HK.
Newly appointed Strydom will work closely with Ali Shabaz, chief creative officer, Grey Group, Southeast Asia, to set the overall creative direction for Grey’s GSK operations. He will be responsible for fostering an even-deeper culture of creativity and accelerate Team GSK’s digital transformation.
Meanwhile, Tesch’s role is a newly created one and will see him leading the strategy teams and setting the strategic direction across the region. He will also oversee Grey’s continued immersion into the areas of innovation, mobile and social. He joins Grey from Crispin Porter + Bogusky where he was chief strategy officer for Scandinavia. He led strategy and planning in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen, working across the entire client spectrum including; Arla, Carlsberg, Ikea, Infiniti, Scania and Sony.
“In order to enhance Grey’s core leadership team, we continue to hire world-class talents in Neil Cotton and Marthinus Strydom. They have deep knowledge and proven track records in their specific areas of expertise and their roles are directed towards delivering our very best for our clients,” Nirvik Singh (pictured second from right), chairman & CEO, Grey Group Asia Pacific, Middle East, & Africa said.
“In today’s dynamic environment, strategy, data and technology all play a crucial role and Tesch is one of the world’s most experienced in this field. We want to take Grey to the next level and there is no better person to help us achieve this goal,” Singh added on Tesch’s appointment.
