SINGAPORE – Geometry Global, WPP’s recently merged shopper marketing & activation entity of G2, OgilvyAction and JWTAction, has announced the appointment of Mary Jane (MJ) Butler as Client Service Director for Singapore, effective immediately. In this newly created position Butler will focus on company and client business growth, with responsibility for leading the agency’s account management team and key global and regional clients including GSK, Lenovo and Unilever.
Butler’s return to the WPP network comes after a five-year stint with global boutique agency StrawberryFrog in New York and most recently Singapore where she served as Managing Director of the network’s Southeast Asian operation since 2013.
Chris Martell, Managing Director of Geometry Global Singapore, said, “Shopper marketing is very much on the C-suite agenda and we’re seeing clients investing more in this area than ever before. We created this new position in response to the significant growth of the agency in recent years and needed someone with the expertise and gravitas to work with our senior clients globally and across the region. MJ stood out for her seniority and experience in leading global brands in a multi-disciplinary landscape, her depth of knowledge of markets across Asia and her understanding of the digital landscape, a critical element of the shopper marketing and activation mix for our clients.”
Butler brings to the position two decades of experience in working with blue chip multinational companies in both the US and Asia across varied categories including food and beverage, beauty, baby care, professional services, telecom and Government. As Regional Business Director for Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific based in Bangkok, Thailand and Beijing, China from 2003-2007 Butler was responsible for the development of brands including Kraft beverages, Unilever skincare and fabric care, Kimberly-Clark and Johnson & Johnson’s 2008 Beijing Olympics campaign among others.
“We’re seeing a steady ramping up of interest and excitement about shopper marketing from clients in Asia and around the world, and more brands are demanding its inclusion in their marketing mix and in greater proportions,” commented Butler. “What’s also exciting is the fact that Asia, and Singapore specifically, is now seen as the lead region where shopper marketing programs are being developed for export to developing and emerging markets around the world. So work that we’re creating in Singapore will reach Africa, Latin America, Russia and beyond. This is the space to watch in the coming decade and Singapore is the epicenter.”
Prior to O&M, Butler was Regional Account Director at DDB Singapore and also worked at Publicis and Bozell Worldwide in New York before that.
