Judd Labarthe joins Grey Group Asia Pacific as vice president, global strategy director

Grey Group has appointed Judd Labarthe as vice president, global strategy director. He will lead strategic planning for GSK work in Asia Pacific, overseeing both global and regional brands, such as Panadol, Scott’s, Sensodyne and Polident.

Based in Singapore, Labarthe takes up the role with immediate effect. He will be reporting to Nirvik Singh, Chairman and CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific and Alina Kessel, Executive Vice President, Managing Director Global Client Service for GSK.

“Judd’s experience and ability makes him a multi-faceted strategist to provide business solutions and inspire the creative team with powerful ideas. He can seamlessly connect a brand story with an engagement or digital idea that will definitely help propel the clients’ business,” said Singh.

“We are delighted to have Judd with us. I look forward to his innovative thinking and deep insight into brands and consumers. It will surely strengthen the work we do for GSK,” said Alina Kessel.

“I am excited to be joining a team of well-known talents in the field and look forward to creating more famously effective solutions for these acclaimed GSK brands,” Labarthe said.

Labarthe returns to Singapore after six years in Berlin, Germany. There, he served as Executive Planning Director at G2 Germany from 2008 to 2012 where he advised brands such as Volkswagen, Ballantine’s, Leica, The Berlin Philharmonic, Nestlé and the Deutsche Bahn before founding his own consultancy, Planner at Large, which focused on creative turnaround marketing. He has also previously held planning leadership positions at DDB (in Chicago, Berlin and Amsterdam) and Ogilvy & Mather (Taiwan, Singapore).

A multi-award winning planner with dozens of international creative awards under his aegis, Judd has also helped his employers, clients and colleagues win over 50 Effies – with the most recent, a 2013 Gold Euro Effie for VisitScotland.