McCann Singapore unveils new leadership team

McCann Singapore has revealed its refreshed leadership team, bringing together the capabilities of McCann and MullenLowe under a single vision. Daniel Kee leads creative, supported by Esther Yeo as head of creative services.

Robin Nayak heads strategy, with Mikael Perhirin overseeing CRM and loyalty. In addition, Julie Chua is head of production, Aishah Haroon leads digital, Irene Xu runs operations, and Nicole Guiogue Golloso-Kazemi heads HR.

Shilpa Sinha, chief strategy officer, will take on an expanded role across global accounts. 

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In conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Gonzalo Olivera (pictured), president, McCann Singapore said the merged leadership blends two complementary cultures: McCann's strategic rigour and global scale and MullenLowe's challenger mindset of being entrepreneurial, quick to market and built to integrate media, data and creativity. 

"The opportunity is taking the best of those two cultures together and maximise it with the exponential value of Omni. Day to day, this will show up in deeper strategy, bigger creative ambition, and more confidence to challenge comfortable answers," said Olivera. 

Moving forward, the agency hopes clients will notice a more proactive approach with access to a wider range of solutions and talents such as in-house research capabilities, CRM expertise and a team encouraged to challenge briefs. 

"Agencies exist to hold a point of view, even when it creates productive tension between what clients want and what they actually need so our clients will get teams who are encouraged to challenge briefs based on better data and sharper thinking," explained Olivera. 

"As an agency, we are focusing on clients who see us as strategic partners and engage us to solve their hardest problems. In this context, McCann's philosophy of 'truth well told' matters more than ever because in a world where AI is optimised to give us the most likely answers (not necessarily the most truthful ones), brands need more judgement, courage and clarity to pursue truth, not just relevance," he added. 

In the next 12 to 18 months, success will look like stronger organic growth, a globally recognised creative presence, a unified culture that retains and attracts top talent, deeper client partnerships, and more case studies showing how integrated creative and media drive business results, said Olivera. 

This refreshed leadership comes in the wake of the Omnicom-IPG merger. Paul Soon, previously CEO of MullenLowe Singapore, will continue as CEO of the merged agency, managing client continuity, integrating MRM and MullenLowe Singapore tech teams, and guiding AI, Adobe, and other technology partnerships.

Meanwhile in his new role as president, Olivera will oversee creative, strategy, delivery, and operations to unify the teams for both local and international accounts. He was previously managing partner of MullenLowe Singapore for over three years and has been with the agency since 2008, initially based in Madrid before relocating to Singapore in 2013.

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