TBWA\Asia restructures leadership: Philip Brett elevated to London-based worldwide COO and Ian Pearman joins as President of TBWA\Asia

Philip Brett (far left), president of TBWA\Asia, has been promoted to chief operating officer, TBWA\ Worldwide, based in London. Replacing him as president, TBWA\Asia is Ian Pearman, CEO of AMVBBDO (pictured on right). With his new role effective August 1st, Pearman will have responsibility for all countries in Asia and is charged with further advancing the agency’s collective position across the region. Oceania continues to be led by Paul Bradbury.

Pearman joined AMVBBDO in 1996 as a graduate trainee, rising through the ranks to CEO in 2010, where he has driven innovation, transformation and new services. The agency has topped the billings league for 20 years and during Pearman’s seven-year CEO tenure AMVBBDO has won over 40 Agency of the Year awards, as well as a place in the top 40 ‘Best Companies to Work For’ rankings in The Sunday Times.

“Phil and Ian share an innovation and product mindset, the ability to build bridges, and a thirst to drive ideas into action,” said Troy Ruhanen, president and CEO, TBWA\Worldwide. “We are beyond lucky to have two of Omnicom’s best as part of The Disruption Company and I am thrilled to see them both step in to new growth roles.”

Expanding Brett’s remit beyond Asia is an important strategic move for TBWA\Worldwide. After 21 years of focus on the Asia region, Brett’s primary responsibility in the COO role is to operationalise the company’s numerous product and platform initiatives across the globe by implementing best practices and innovation.

Said Brett, “It has been a pure privilege to spend the last two decades building TBWA\Asia into one of the most dynamic agency groups in Asia. I’ve worked with many of the world’s best brands, and the most talented, creative and innovative people I have grown to love and respect. It’s now time for the next opportunity and I am thrilled to return to London and to work closely with Troy to help write the next chapter of TBWA. I can do so with a clear conscience that Ian will be at the helm. His expertise in running London’s largest agency over the last seven years will add enormous value, further advancing the collective’s position and strengthening its offering.”

Under Brett’s leadership, Asia has played a major role in creating new products and operating models within TBWA, such as Disruption Live, which was birthed in Hong Kong and Singapore. His remit now will be to take what he’s driven throughout Asia and scale it across the company.

Added Ruhanen, “Many companies have great ideas of how to innovate, but lack the focus and energy to make them business realities. The future of our business is around product and platforms, and so we need a clear focus on operationalising transformative ideas. Phil has the business acumen to both identify the best ideas across the collective and bring them to life.”

Brett’s passion and drive to establish a competitive network across Asia has resulted in the group winning some of the region’s most valuable brands, including the global portfolio for Singapore Airlines, Standard Chartered Bank, and Singapore Tourism Board, who remain key clients today.

Brett joined the TBWA\Group in 1992 out of London and moved to Singapore in 1996 to establish Tequila across Asia. In 2003, Brett was made regional managing director of Tequila, having set up 10 agencies across the Asia Pacific region. In 2009, his remit widened to run TBWA\South & Southeast Asia, before being named TBWA\Asia president in 2015. In 2016 he was named Creative Agency Network Head of the Year by Campaign Asia.

Commenting on his appointment to the role of TBWA\Asia president, Pearman said, “It has been an incredible privilege to be part of AMVBBDO for 21 years and to have been able to carry the flame. The opportunity to move up within Omnicom like this is fantastic. Andrew and Troy are the two people in this business I most admire, and to be able to work for both of them in the space of one career makes me one lucky man. The optimism, ambition and rich variety of the Asia region makes it a brilliant canvas for TBWA’s unrelenting focus on creativity and innovation, and I look forward to partnering with Phil to turbocharge that entrepreneurial spirit to the benefit of TBWA’s clients and people.”