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HONG KONG – January 22, 2014 – BBDO Greater China, an Omnicom company, has promoted Owen Smith to Head of Planning, BBDO South China.
In this newly created role, Smith will partner with BBDO South China managing director, JC Catibog, and BBDO South China ECD, Kevin Lynch, to complete the BBDO South China Management team, the agency said in a press release.
His remit is to build and lead a team of strategic thought-leaders to help shape The Work for BBDO and Proximity’s Guangzhou and Hong Kong-based clients, to drive new business and to work with both Catibog and Lynch on other key agency management initiatives.
Smith has been with BBDO Greater China since 2007 when he transferred from BBDO New York where he was part of Omnicom’s multi-agency Bank of America planning team. Initially based in Shanghai, he led planning duties on FedEx, Chrysler, Air New Zealand, Wrigley and PepsiCo Food and Beverages among others.
In 2010, Smith became Regional Planning Director at BBDO Hong Kong where was responsible for strategic planning for the Mars/Wrigley portfolio – including chocolate, chewing gum and pet care brands. Additionally, he is the global strategy lead for Doublemint gum.
Smith has received numerous awards at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival, the China Effies, the WARC Prize for Asian Strategy and the APPIES, as well as at the prestigious Account Planning Group Creative Strategy Awards in London.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to handle a breadth of local and global responsibilities as well as taking on the new challenge of building a talented, inspired planning team at BBDO South China,” commented Smith.
JC Catibog, managing director, BBDO South China added: “We are thrilled at Owen’s well-deserved promotion. His passion for creating work that works, and crafting game-changing strategies to make that happen, is exactly what we need at BBDO South China.”
