Grey Singapore names new chief creative officer after Ali Shabaz departure
Grey Group Singapore has appointed DDB’s Tim Cheng as chief creative officer for Singapore market, four months after the agency parted ways with Ali Shabaz, the creative chief behind the fake I Sea app.
Shabaz, who was Grey’s Southeast Asia chief creative officer, had been with the agency for seven years before he moved to Grey’s Dubai office in February.
Cheng will solely lead the creative department in Singapore, having held the same role at DDB China Group/Tribal Worldwide China for the last four years.
He will report to Subbaraju Alluri, area director and chief executive officer for Singapore and Thailand.
“Cheng is a well-respected professional and his work has consistently pushed the boundaries of creativity. I look forward to working closely with him, and am confident that he will take our creative capabilities and output to the next level,” Alluri said.
Grey was mired in controversy last year when its I Sea app, which supposedly enabled people to scan the Mediterranean ocean for stranded boats carrying fleeing migrants, was called out as a fake.
Grey reluctantly returned the Bronze Lions it won at Cannes, with global head of communications Owen Dougherty saying the agency had been the victim of “unwarranted, unfair, unrelenting attacks by unnamed bloggers.”
It was also withdrawn from the Ad Stars shortlist.
Be interesting to see if the scam stops or continues to be disguised as for good causes.
ReplyThe local and regional CEOs are the one who green lit and permitted all these scam probono projects…you cant just change replace one compliant CCO with another and think clients will forget this.
ReplyAnyone who’s worked at Grey will concur that it isn’t just the creative leads to blame for the trash. Needless to say, Grey’s overall creative leadership in APAC is appalling. They ought to be embarrassed even sharing award venues with solid creative rockers.
ReplyOne look at the b&w pic of that guy above and you know the wool’s being pulled over a jury’s eyes.
ReplyGrey has had a strange history in singapore….it has closed down and re-opened (with other partners) as many as three times but it could never gain a foothold.
Few years back, they went solo….when they got Qatar Air and Metro as a free gift. These gifts sustained them for a long time, until they managed to lose both. The GSK business was a global alignment, not gained by their own talent…now they have lost just about every business pitched and won…e.g.. sentosa…. due to their dumb stance of focusing on scam for awards.
Cannot think of a more clueless agency….and getting a cco with a history of doing china style advertising might just be the last straw.
ReplyThis guy hasn’t won a single award since Ali left, this is a fact.
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