Singapore – Thursday, 1st September: Publicis Groupe Southeast Asia today announced the expansion of Ian Loon’s current role. In addition to his current responsibility as as CEO of Publicis Groupe, Media and Digital for Singapore, he will take on Chief Transformation Officer of Southeast Asia duties. The role will see Ian continue to report to Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Publicis Groupe Singapore and Southeast Asia and focus on Southeast Asia’s Groupe transformation efforts beyond the Singapore market.

 

Over the past 12 months, Publicis Groupe has been piloting a range of initiatives across Southeast Asia to help the region work better as one. From Centres of Excellence hubs dedicated to different capabilities to talent corridors that allow seamless mobility of skillsets to where they are needed, to reinventing the backend of the business from a technology standpoint. This role will now serve to scale the ambition behind these initiatives and allow Publicis Groupe to accelerate the launch and adoption of more such initiatives, with a focus on giving clients access to the best of Publicis Groupe's capabilities no matter where it sits.

 

Speaking on the appointment, Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Publicis Groupe Singapore and Southeast Asia, said, “Ian has built a stellar operation in Singapore not just in terms of the sheer extent of capabilities but also the followership he has developed when it comes to talent. He is obsessed by what the future of our business looks like to better serve clients and give our talent a greater voice in shaping the future of the industry. It has been a joy to partner with him to imagine the future and with this appointment, I can only see our ambition accelerate.”

Ian will work closely with both the Publicis Groupe Southeast Asia market CEOs and the Product and Solutions leadership across Publicis Groupe to define the key pillars of transformation for the region and land transformational capability in every market.

 

“Today, the partnership with Amrita and fellow leaders in Singapore and Southeast Asia has been charged to unprecedented levels, but we remain restless in wanting to do even more. There are very few roles in the agency business with a canvas this broad, and even fewer global organisations without legacy agency or capability silos to bring this role to life in. The role is also perfectly aligned to a lifetime purpose to do good for both our clients’ business and people.” said Ian Loon on taking on this expansion of his role.

 

A 2019 Campaign Asia 40 under 40 honouree, Ian has had a stellar rise through the ranks of Publicis Groupe, having spent most of his career in the Groupe. Starting as an intern in Starcom, Ian is one of the most known figures in the Groupe globally from Singapore. He rose through Starcom becoming Head of Digital for Starcom in Southeast Asia in 2015, progressing to Head of Business Transformation in Publicis Media APAC in 2016, and taking on MD of WWW.PUBLICISGROUPE.COM.

 

Starcom Singapore in 2017. Before his current role as CEO of Publicis Groupe, Media and Digital for Singapore and overseeing the media function in Malaysia and Indonesia, Ian was CEO of Publicis Media in Singapore – a role he took on in 2020.