Dentsu Aegis Network appoints Ashish Bhasin into top APAC role

Dentsu Aegis Network: Ashish will be based in Singapore and joins the Global Executive Team

Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) today announced the appointment of Ashish Bhasin, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Greater South into the newly created role of CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network, APAC, effective immediately.

Based in Singapore, he joins the DAN Global Executive team and will report into Takaki Hibino, Executive Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network APAC. Takaki’s role as Executive Chairman, APAC remains the same.

This move further cements the recently announced Cluster Structure; Greater North, Greater South and ANZ in APAC, giving the markets and their leadership teams greater focus on identifying and moving into key growth opportunities. Ashish will focus on accelerating this growth whilst delivering greater operational rigor and leadership excellence across the region.

These changes reflect evolving market dynamics across the region, mitigating the disruption that new entrants, shifting consumer demands and technological evolution creates by focusing on delivering long-term, sustainable growth for our clients.

Ashish will oversee the Greater South Cluster whilst the Leadership team appoint a successor. In India, Anand Bhadkamkar, COO & CFO South Asia has been promoted to CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network India. Ashish maintains his role as Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network India.

In addition, Masaya Nakamura, Deputy Chairman & Chief Growth Officer, APAC has taken a new role as CEO, Global Solutions, Dentsu Aegis Network, based in Tokyo. He will remain on the Global Executive.

Masaya’s role is transformative within the business; he will be responsible for unlocking expertise and developing leading practices to drive global client-excellence through integrated solutions, overseeing hubs in London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo.

Importantly, as an Executive Officer of Dentsu Inc. also, he will build stronger relationships and shared capability between Dentsu Inc. and Dentsu Aegis Network. As a result, the Singapore business will no longer be a stand-alone entity and become part of the Greater South Cluster.

Prakash Kamdar, CEO, Isobar Singapore has been promoted to CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore. He will continue his role as CEO, Isobar Singapore whilst the Leadership team appoint a successor.

“Ashish’s appointment is critical for the region; enabling the markets to focus on client needs and growth opportunities whilst delivering operational rigor for the business. He was a clear candidate from the start with a proven track record of delivering long-term and consistent growth,” said Takaki Hibino, Executive Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network APAC.

“Under his leadership, the business in India is now the second-largest Advertising & Media organisation by revenue in the market. His long-term vision coupled with his acumen for identifying an opportunity is one of the best in the business, and I am delighted he will join me in leading the business in APAC.”

Ashish Bhasin, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network APAC commented: “I am thrilled to be taking on this new role within the APAC region. There is never a more exciting time to be in this business; our competitive landscape is becoming more complex and fragmented whilst our clients are crying out for long-term vision and simplicity.

“We have to keep their needs as our North Star whilst delivering long-term, sustainable growth for our business. We are in a unique position to build propositions around our client needs, and I look forward to this next chapter in the transformation journey of this region.”

Masaya Nakamura, CEO, Global Solutions added: “I am delighted to lead Global Solutions across the network. Making global brands and ideas relevant to local consumers and a core part of their culture is something I have done throughout my career, and I am glad to be taking this on with a global focus once more.

“This move is an incredibly exciting step in the evolution of our business, weaving stronger synergies between Dentsu Inc. and Dentsu Aegis to truly unleash the combined power of the businesses with our client’s long-term growth central to our vision.”