Global next-gen creative, tech and media group, MSQ, along with its multi-award-winning branding and design consultancy, Elmwood, have announced the appointment of seasoned brand strategist Ambrish Chaudhry as Head of Strategy for Asia. In this role, Chaudhry will lead efforts to deepen the strategic offering across brand design, content, and communications, driving growth for the region.

Global next-gen creative, tech and media group, MSQ, along with its multi-award-winning branding and design consultancy, Elmwood, have announced the appointment of seasoned brand strategist Ambrish Chaudhry as Head of Strategy for Asia. In this role, Chaudhry will lead efforts to deepen the strategic offering across brand design, content, and communications, driving growth for the group’s rapidly expanding client base in Asia.

The appointment
This appointment underscores Elmwood’s ongoing commitment to growth and its evolution as a full-service brand and design experience consultancy, equipped to address the complex challenges brands face as they build their growth platforms. Chaudhry’s extensive strategic expertise in brand building and his entrepreneurial mindset to leverage Elmwood and MSQ’s next generation technology, data and media capabilities will unlock new growth opportunities for clients across the region.

Chaudhry will work closely with the regional leadership team, including Celeste Cheong (Managing Director, Elmwood Singapore), Andy Edmonds (General Manager, MSQ Asia), Angeline Kong (Managing Director, Elmwood Shanghai) and Susie Hunt (Asia Chair, MSQ and Elmwood).

Chaudhry’s bio
With over 20 years of experience, Chaudhry previously served as Head of Strategy at Design Bridge and Partners and has held senior roles within WPP across consulting, advertising, and market research. During this time, he has spearheaded high-profile branding initiatives across 20 markets and 4 continents. His work has primarily engaged c-suite stakeholders, delivering impactful projects for globally renowned companies such as Coca-Cola, CapitaLand, Meta, Reckitt, Infosys, Lazada, Hero FinCorp, Mars, Mondelez, and HSBC, among others.

“Ambrish is the perfect fit to help us strategically strengthen our position in Asia as a full-service experience design consultancy,” said Daniel Binns, CEO of Elmwood. “His appointment, following Susie Hunt’s as Chair for Asia, demonstrates our commitment to the region’s growth and our investment in top talent. Together, they will drive impactful solutions and create new growth avenues for our clients.”

Commenting on his new role, Chauhdry said: “Elmwood and MSQ are among the most exciting place to be in our industry today. It is a fast-growing group, structurally built for collaboration with an exciting array of specialisms such as branding, generative design, content creation, analytics and insights coming together seamlessly. Strategy has a key role to play in harmonising these capabilities to create tangible impact on businesses. I look forward to pushing the boundaries of this joint-up thinking and be a part of the work that elevates our clients’ brands.”

Horton previously oversaw strategy and innovation at Taxi Studio and held senior roles at Bluemarlin and BBDO.

Award winning brand and design consultancy Elmwood London announces today that it has doubled the size of its strategy team as it looks to significantly grow its healthcare and consumer-focused brand partnerships.

The latest to join the team in London is industry visionary Jade Horton as Strategy Partner. Originally from New Zealand, Horton’s career has seen her work across Europe and North America with many of the world’s leading agencies and brands.

She started her career in advertising, working for the top networks, including WPP and Omnicom, before stepping into the world of branding and design. Horton joins Elmwood from Bristol-based agency, Taxi Studio, where she worked with leading healthcare and consumer brands like Nestle Health Science, Carlsberg and The Coco-Cola Company. She also previously worked at design agency, Bluemarlin.

“There was a very long list of brilliant things that made us want to hire Jade,” says Deborah Stafford-Watson, Head of Strategy at Elmwood. “She is a proven strategic powerhouse who has developed innovation strategies and design visions for top blue-chip brands, transforming perceptions of what design can achieve for a business.”

“Her experience at the intersection of health and wellness, and her knowledge of developing design strategies for brands within highly regulated environments, makes Jade the perfect fit for Elmwood as we look to bolster our consumer healthcare pillar.”

Elmwood London has a growing roster of leading healthcare brands including E45, Panadol, Voltaren, Advil and Otrivine. The studio was responsible for creating the award-winning brand identities for Hana and Opill, the first over-the-counter birth control pills for the UK and the US respectively.

“Whether it’s the medicine we take, the health supplements we drink or the health apps we download, branding in healthcare is first and foremost about designing for people,” said Jade Horton. “Elmwood understands this perfectly and is ideally placed to thrive in the next chapter of growth of health and wellness. It’s a true honour to be joining the team.”

Alongside Horton, Elmwood London recently appointed three highly respected Strategy Directors to the team. Amy Lee Stewart joined Elmwood from Interbrand in New York, where she was Associate Director and where she worked with brands such as Alkermes, IBM Watson and Samsung. Stewart has extensive experience of working with blue-chips and start-ups in the health, wellness and technology sectors, and is respected for her skills in brand positioning, brand architecture, identity and experience design.

Stewart is accompanied by Emily Stirling, who was previously Senior Brand Strategist at design agency, ORCA. A leading expert on how to translate brand definition into actionable creative platforms, Stirling has worked with major global businesses such as Procter and Gamble and Unilever. She has a passion for building purpose-driven brands that enhance health and wellness and is the founder of organic skincare line, Hale Organics.

Rounding out the team of Strategy Directors is Isobel Grad, who joined Elmwood London from semiotics and cultural analytics insight agency, Sign Salad, where she was a Director. Grad is a renowned cultural analyst and semiotician and has worked with many of the world’s leading brands, helping them to understand how to turn culture and consumer behaviour into actionable strategies for brand and design.

“With the addition of Jade, Amy Lee, Emily and Isobel, we’re blending new skills and perspectives with fantastic experience to elevate our strategy offer in the London team and help unlock new growth opportunities for our clients across our corporate, consumer and healthcare pillars,” added Stafford-Watson.

Hunt was previously Asia Pacific Chair for IPG’s Futurebrand, CEO ADNA Global China, CEO HuntHaggarty Asia and held earlier regional leadership roles in the Ogilvy/Brand Union JV and JWT.

Global next-gen creative, tech and media group, MSQ, and its multi-award winning design consultancy, Elmwood, have announced the appointment of seasoned marketing industry expert Susie Hunt as Chair of MSQ and Elmwood in Asia, where she will support and accelerate the expansion of the group’s successful and highly awarded team to deliver in region brand strategy, design excellence and brand communications.

Susie has been living and working in Asia Pacific for over 25 years, including most recently living in Beijing where she focused on growth strategies for China based companies. She now brings a wealth of experience to her new role with MSQ and Elmwood. She was previously Asia Pacific Chair for Futurebrand at IPG, where she advised leading Asian companies and governments, including UOB, The Singapore Government, CITIC PE, Alibaba and the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Her career in Asia began at WPP with JWT, where she was the Asia Pacific Regional Director, working for clients including Diageo, Pfizer, The Wall Street Journal and Kellogg’s. Then, as Pacific regional lead for Brand Union, Hunt strengthened the business’ corporate branding practice and developed new revenue streams in consumer and retail brand experience for clients including Levi’s, Coca-Cola and Motorola. Hunt then co-founded her own brand experience consultancy HuntHaggarty specialising in the Chinese Mainland, South East Asia and India including working with leading tech companies such as Google. Hunt is now an Industry Mentor at the Schwarzman Institute at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and advises the Museum for the United Nations – UN LIVE.

The news follows MSQ’s recent acquisition of New York-based creative agency, SPCSHP, a move that doubles their presence in the US as part of their global expansion plans.

“Susie’s appointment is a reinforcement of our commitment to the international growth of MSQ and the importance of Asia for our clients and agencies,” says Bart Michels, Executive Board Director at MSQ Partners. “There is massive potential for the expansion of MSQ’s joined up creative, data and tech proposition in the region and, given her breadth of experience and her reputation, Susie will be the perfect champion to help us achieve this.”

Elmwood Global CEO Daniel Binns says: “Susie has worked with many of the largest brands in the region and at the most senior level and understands the culture of the region incredibly well. She therefore has exactly the right skills and experience to help drive the growth of our business and support the continued expansion of our services as we transition from pure design to experience design and from a largely consumer business to a more balanced consumer and corporate brand consultancy. We’re so excited to welcome her to our team.”

Based in Hong Kong, Hunt’s extensive Asia experience will be key to supporting the continued growth of the MSQ network and providing clients with access to the expertise of the entire MSQ group, encompassing advertising, design and dynamic creative content and production services. Her rich corporate branding experience will also be key to further developing Elmwood’s own capabilities, building on the consultancy’s recent work with consumer healthcare company, Kenvue, Chinese restaurant group, Haidilao, and multinational confectionery giant, Mars.

“What really drives and inspires me is the quality and agility of the creative product we can offer to our clients fueled by the very latest global expertise in data and tech. MSQ and Elmwood continue to creatively disrupt our industry positively in Asia with technology and data driven solutions to anticipate client needs,” says Susie Hunt. “I’m proud to be part of such a talented team and I look forward to increasing our presence in this key growth region.”

Former Dragon Rouge and Design Bridge exec, Emma Godfrey, to spearhead the studio’s ambitious US expansion strategy.

This article originally appeared in LBB Online.

Global design consultancy Elmwood has appointed Emma Godfrey as its Managing Director in New York, in a critical hire for the MSQ -owned creative studio as it gears up for a new stage of US-led global growth.

With a career spanning 20 years at the forefront of brand strategy and design, Emma joins Elmwood from global agency Dragon Rouge, where she was NY Managing Director. Prior to that, she held high-profile roles as Business Director at WPP’s Design Bridge and Partners, and was Vice President at Kantar Consulting.

Emma’s leadership experience has seen her partner with multinational clients such as Diageo, Mondelez, LifeScan and Reckitt to drive customer acquisition and the delivery of award-winning creative projects. Having worked across a wide range of CPG, healthcare, corporate and enterprise projects, her breadth of insight will be pivotal to advancing Elmwood’s growth at a key moment for the studio.

In her role starting this month, Emma will report directly to Global CEO Daniel Binns to oversee Elmwood’s US expansion, following a year of bumper growth for the New York studio’s industry-leading team. Her appointment underscores the scale of Elmwood’s US ambitions over the next three years.

Daniel Binns said, “Emma’s hybrid experience in leadership, brand strategy, insights and business development make her the ideal addition to our NY team, as we pursue a new chapter of US-led expansion at Elmwood. We will work together to develop the North America market as our – and MSQ’s – most important region of growth.”

With major clients including Mars, Haleon, Heineken, Kenvue, Reckitt, Kimberly Clark and Unilever, and the backing of its parent company, MSQ, Elmwood is ideally positioned to grow its unique strategic design consultancy model. Emma will be tasked with taking the NY business to the next level expanding both its service offer and its client base.

Elmwood has over 250 people working in New York, London, Singapore and Shanghai, and Emma’s appointment will complete its heavyweight leadership suite. Led by Daniel as CEO, this includes, London agency MD Sue Knowles, Shanghai MD Angeline Kong and Singapore MD Celeste Cheong. Elmwood recently also hired Kristin Nevin as Global Client Partner, Kam White as Global Head of People and Abi Main as Global CFO.

Based in New York, Emma will work closely with Daniel to propel strategic growth and business development; both within Elmwood and the wider MSQ group. Following its 2021 acquisition by MSQ, the pair will be able to collaborate with MSQ’s roster of partner agencies to expand Elmwood’s capabilities and clients.

Emma Godfrey said, “Elmwood has been an agency that I’ve admired ever since I started my career 20 years ago. Like many people in the industry, I’ve long been aware of the studio’s nurturing and supportive culture. And I’ve also been blown away by the standard of its strategic creative work. I can’t wait to build on this success trajectory within Elmwood’s New York and global teams, as we explore the huge opportunities ahead in the US market.

“Elmwood has a unique advantage right now. We can tap into the structure of a boutique-style, independent studio, with the added support of MSQ’s vast network of international marketing agencies. The ability to partner with MSQ is particularly exciting given its expertise in tech-enabled and AI-focused branding. This will help position us at the forefront as we look to enrich our global client base.”

“We’re thrilled to add Emma to MSQ’s fast growing North American leadership team,” said MSQ North America President, Aaron Lang. “She brings the perfect blend of vision, expertise and partnership that our unique client model is built upon. This is a great hire for us, and we’re excited for all that she brings to the business.”

Elmwood London has appointed award-winning JKR lead Iván Mato as its new Executive Creative Director, as the global design consultancy looks to stay ahead in a climate of intense corporate competition and rapidly advancing digital technology.

In his new role based out of Elmwood’s UK HQ, Iván will spearhead the studio’s global client growth – with a particular focus on high-impact corporate briefs whilst also supporting the team on existing consumer clients. Iván will lead the charge on projects that are shaped by fast-changing creative technologies such as generative AI.

Iván brings over 20 years’ experience working across corporate, consumer and hospitality branding for a range of prestigious agency and multinational brand names. Most recently, he was Creative Director at global agency JKR, where he oversaw a rebrand for The National Lottery – sparking a 34% increase in retail sales – as well as leading on the creation of BEES, a multichannel ecommerce platform for Belgian beer giant Ab InBev that attracted 3.7 million monthly users across 26 countries in the space of just four years.

“We’re delighted to have Iván overseeing creative direction for Elmwood London during this exciting period of transition and growth,” says Andy Lawrence, Global Executive Creative Director for Elmwood. “As a respected industry leader, Iván’s repertoire of work is impressive. He has consistently been able to answer complex design challenges with amazing ideas, executed in a beautiful way.”

“Amid the relentless march of new technology, Iván’s combination of physical and digital brand experience also places him at the forefront of new creative innovations in brand design,” Andy continues. “He has the skills we need to expand our footprint further into fast-growth areas. Already, just days into the role, he’s made his presence felt in a series of key projects we are running around AI.”

In the early stages of his wide-ranging career, Iván worked in-house at Nokia Design, giving him a unique perspective on client-agency collaboration and partnership. In later agency roles, he went on to collaborate with many of the world’s leading brands across various industries; from Mars Inc, Pedigree, Evian, Cunard and Ocado to NIO, Yamaha, Quickbooks, Deutsche Bank and Apollo Tyres. Within each position, Iván has always maintained a multidisciplinary focus – going beyond the specifics of graphic design to think about branding in the broadest sense possible.

Iván is also a strong believer in the power of branding to generate sustainable growth; whether that’s developing new contender Avid Hotels into a 150-strong portfolio for the InterContinental Hotels group, or nurturing a thriving internal culture. Standout growth was a key theme in both Iván’s most recent Creative Director positions. This includes at design agencies forpeople and JKR, where he helped transition the company from its mainstay of FMCG packaging design to a digital-first remit.

A self-confessed typography fanatic, Iván’s love of branding began early, during his childhood in his native Spain. He is passionate about putting people at the core of the design process, continuously improving creative projects via user participation, co-creation and client engagement. This approach has won Iván multiple accolades for his work, including from Clio Awards, D&AD and the Art Directors Club.

His passion for generating real-world results from design – as well as driving brand-powered sustainable growth – will be critical to expanding Elmwood’s unique status within the wider MSQ group. The studio was acquired by the international marketing company in 2022, forming the foundations of a new global agency model that can flex across multiple design systems and digital content platforms.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate across Elmwood’s huge cross-company network of skills and connections,” says Iván Mato. “I can’t wait to explore what makes Elmwood’s corporate and consumer work so special, and to learn more about the studio’s ‘design better’ philosophy. To be able to meet that ideal within the context of the studio’s vast pool of in-house talent just gives it even greater impact and velocity.”

“I’m also looking forward to building on my previous digital work with clients to explore the tantalising relationship between branding and next-gen tech at Elmwood,” Iván continues. “I see the reach of knowledge that we have here at Elmwood as an opportunity to craft something very compelling for the consumer and corporate markets. At the same time, we have the freedom to branch out into new avenues of strategic growth, making our mark within the fast-evolving brand landscape.”

Elmwood, the global design consultancy owned by MSQ, has appointed industry heavyweight Daniel Binns as its new Global CEO, to help the agency deliver on its international ambitions and cement its leading position as one of the industry’s foremost creative design business.

Binns joins Elmwood from Interbrand, where he’d spent more than a decade as part of the global leadership team, most recently as Chief Executive of Interbrand North America and as Global Chief Provocation Officer, where he ran new business and marketing across 13 offices.

Prior to Interbrand he was the Founding Partner of global research and strategy boutique, The Leading Edge, and previously spent 18 years at McCann Worldgroup, running offices and global client teams in London, New York, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain and Brussels during his near two-decade stretch.

As Interbrand’s North America CEO he led the agency to win 40 major global creative awards, helping the business achieve over 50% growth in the past four years alone, and landing key new business from brands including GE, Google, American Express, Nissan, PayPal, Verizon, and Prudential.

Binn’s appointment by Elmwood underlines the studio’s ambition to deliver world-class design-led creativity and strategic thinking to global clients and national brand leaders. The studio already has over 250 people in 4 studios working in New York, London, Singapore, and Shanghai, and developing work for the likes of Mars Wrigley, Heineken, Haleon, Kimberly-Clark, Danone, CVS Health and Colgate-Palmolive.

Based in New York, Binns will oversee Elmwood’s global growth strategy and creative innovation agenda, as well as fostering greater integration between each studio and uniting the business around a new global vision for design-led, creative transformation. He will also work closely with Elmwood’s parent company, MSQ, which acquired Elmwood in December 2021 and successfully merged the studio with its own existing design consultancy, Holmes & Marchant to create a new international strategic design company.

Binns will take up his new role in February, reporting directly to MSQ’s Executive Director, Bart Michels, and working closely with Elmwood’s Non-Executive Chair, Steve Gatfield. He will lead a multi-talented leadership team at Elmwood, which includes Elmwoods Asia chief Paul Galesloot, London agency MD Sue Knowles, newly appointed Elmwood Shanghai MD Angeline Kong, Elmwood Singapore MD Celeste Cheong, and New York MD Nulty White.

Last year Elmwood made two further additions to its global team, hiring Kristin Nevin as Global Client Partner and Abi Main as Global CFO.

Binns said: “I’ve always admired the uniquely creative power of the Elmwood business and its passionate and talented designers, strategists and client leaders. It’s clear that clients really value the design excellence and strong partnership that Elmwood brings. The potential to help innovate and grow this business even further, together with our studios and clients, was irresistible. And to do this as part of the dynamic, tech-enabled and creative stable of the fast-growing MSQ group of companies, makes it all the more interesting.”

Bart Michels, Executive Director of MSQ, says: “We’ve been looking at the right global leadership approach for a newly integrated international Elmwood era, and in Daniel we’ve found a rare global design industry talent to help lead this growth journey. His obvious passion for strategy, design and creativity more broadly, combined with the fact that he is a truly global citizen, make him an excellent choice to lead Elmwood, its clients and its people to an exciting new design industry leadership position.”