SINGAPORE – Grey Group on Monday announced the promotion of Grey Group Singapore Chief Creative Officer to head of creative of Southeast Asia. Now, apart from Singapore, Shabaz will also be in-charge of the Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam offices.
Shabaz has been with the Grey Group since 2010. Before joining Grey, he spent more than 5 years in J. Walter Thompson Singapore as executive creative director and more than 5 years in BBDO Singapore as senior copywriter.
“It is truly an honour to be leading the creatives across Southeast Asia. I am excited about the new role and challenges, and look forward to providing creative solutions for our clients across the region,” said Shabaz.
Under Shabaz’s wing, Grey Group Singapore recognised as the best performing agency, two years in a row at Spikes Asia 2014 and 2015, with big pop-culture ideas such as ‘The Visual Dictionary’ for British Council and ‘Help Find Me’ for the Missing Persons Advocacy Network (MPAN). The agency was also named Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year at the Gong Show 2015.
More recently, Grey Group Singapore’s work, Life Saving Dot won the country’s first Lions Innovation and Product Design awards. The agency also won seven more lions which put Grey Group on top of all Singapore agencies at Cannes Lions 2015.
For his above par work performance, Shabaz was hailed as “Advertising Professional of the Year” by the Institute of Advertising Singapore (IAS) and has been voted numerous times as one of the “Most Influential Creative Directors” in Singapore by the IAS.
Shabaz has also judged at Cannes Lions, AdFest, Spikes Asia, The Singapore Advertising Hall of Fame and the Kancil Awards, and has been invited as a guest speaker for Spikes Asia, 4As and D&AD.
“Ali’s creativity, leadership and talent has played a major role in ensuring that 2015 was the best year yet for Grey Group Singapore. The advertising landscape is ever-evolving and he has not only adapted impressively but has taken the Singapore team to much greater heights. With Ali leading creativity in Southeast Asia, we are looking to further bolster our creative culture in the region,” said Nirvik Singh, Chairman & CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific.
