VJ Anand to leave TBWA to take up the executive creative director reigns at BBDO Malaysia

VJ Anand, group executive creative director at TBWA Kuala Lumpur, is to replace the outgoing CK Tan at BBDO Malaysia. Tan’s resignation as executive creative director became known this week and Anand will take up the role after he leaves TBWA won December the 7th.

Anand (left) has been with TBWA for almost four years.

“It was never my intention to leave the TBWA network as it’s a network that’s moving forward armed with the Disruption philosophy,” Anand told Campaign Brief Asia. “What we have done with the team in Malaysia is just remarkable. In the last two years we were agency of the year in Campaign Asia, Digital Agency of the year, Campaign Best performer in Malaysia 2014, Creative agency of the year in Kancils. The last win was Agency of the Year for Effies Malaysia 2015.

Anand said TBWA chief creative officer Sa’ad Hussein had been an amazing mentor to him.

“He has always supported me even when things weren’t going well and has always treated me more like a partner. We also managed to also work with some really amazing clients like the team at Nandos,Tesco and Unilever who were always open to pushing the boundaries with real campaigns. But the chance to lead BBDO Kuala Lumpur was something that I really wanted to take on”

Anand said the BBDO job was his chance to put into action all the things he has learned from previous bosses like Sa’ad, Mun, Ronald Ng, Dani Comar, Brain Capel. He also was excited to be joining a network that strongly stands for creativity.

“BBDO is a network that always surrounds itself with creative legends like Josy Paul, Suthisak Sucharittanonta and David Guerrero. It’s not going to be an easy task to lead BBDO. Especially if you’re going in after Ronald (Ng) and CK (Tan) who’ve consistently won major awards. It’s a huge challenge and risk, and that’s exactly what I took the job.”

Anand said the ad industry has changed quite a bit.

“It’s not so much about advertising anymore. It’s more about entertaining people. It’s not just about awards these days. But about creating memorable campaigns that push boundaries for brands…and win hearts. You can’t just expect people to buy products just because you’re selling them anymore. Not when they’re so digitally savvy. Which forces us to be as tecnologically sound as we are in-tune with cultural norms and evolutions. John Teoh (the new MD) and I are probably the youngest guys to lead a network agency. We’re banking on our youthful vigour, tenacity and foolishness to build an agency that does great work and isn’t afraid to mess up every now and then by experimenting lot. But more than that, we intend to make sure BBDO doesn’t just make clients happy, but our people as well.”