SINGAPORE, – VaynerMedia Singapore announced today that VJ Anand will be joining the agency as Executive Creative Director, SVP. In this role, he will oversee the agency’s creative product in the Asia-Pacific region and report to Avery Akkineni, Head of VaynerMedia Singapore. Anand was most recently SVP of Creative at Indonesia’s first and largest decacorn startup, Gojek. The appointment is the latest hire since VaynerMedia Singapore opened its Asia-Pacific operation in July this year.
“The Asia-Pacific region is an important market for our clients, therefore it was imperative to establish our presence here,” said Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and Co-Founder of VaynerMedia. “Our Singapore office is growing and VJ is a key hire as we continue to scale our business in the region.”
Added Akkineni, “We are already seeing exciting traction in Asia. The addition of VJ, who is an amazing creative leader with extensive traditional agency experience, allows us to accelerate and uplevel our creative capabilities to complement our media services. We’re intent on building a unique regional office – recruiting digital natives from across Asia-Pacific to give us diverse perspectives for better thinking. VJ is a critical part of the founding team, and we couldn’t be more excited to officially welcome him on board.”
At Gojek, Anand led the company’s internal creative agency where he built and spearheaded creative, social media, digital, events, activation and in-app content for the brand. During this time, the department was named the best media agency in Indonesia. Prior to joining Gojek, Anand was Executive Creative Director at BBDO Malaysia and TBWA Malaysia, working on clients such as Fonterra, Taylor’s University, Guardian, UMobile and Mercedes. At TBWA Group Malaysia, Anand played a key role in helping the group become Malaysia’s number one creative agency in several award shows. Throughout his career, Anand has been recognized by Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, New York Festivals and the London International Awards.
“VaynerMedia is an exciting agency. It is growing globally and has a unique approach to creativity,” said Anand. “We live in a world where social is first. After being client-side at a tech giant, I could see the need in this market for an agency that can marry content, media and social well, and VaynerMedia is that. I was also stoked after talking to Gary and learning how being an independent agency makes us more nimble. His people-first and empathy-focused philosophy really hit the spot for me.”
Anand assumes his role at VaynerMedia Singapore in November, 2019.
