Lisa Hezila appointed MD, Gigi Lee named Exec Creative Director YR Malaysia
5 March, 2013
— Sanjay Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer Southeast Asia, and Marcus Rebeschini, Chief Creative Officer Y&R Asia, today announced the appointments of Lisa Hezila as Managing Director, and Gigi Lee as Executive Creative Director, Y&R Malaysia.
Hezila is promoted to Managing Director from the role of Group General Manager which she has held since August 2010. Lee is promoted to Executive Creative Director from Creative Director, having led the creative department for the past year.
Commented Bhasin, “Y&R Malaysia’s accomplishments this year are testament to both Lisa’s and Gigi’s leadership of their young, but extremely talented team. Their achievements have been a perfect balance of fame and fortune, stellar awards success coupled with a slew of new business wins.”
Awards success at local, regional and international shows led to Y&R Malaysia being ranked among the top 20 agencies in the world, according to a global compilation of all major creative awards shows.
56 international awards won in 2012 include 1Gold and 1 Silver at the London International Awards; 21 Ad Stars (including 1 Gold and 6 Silver); 2 Silver and 2 Bronze Cannes Lions; 2 Silver ANDY Awards; 1 Silver Pencil and 1 Merit at One Show; 1 Silver, 4 Bronze, 5 Shortlist at Spikes Asia; 1 Bronze Clio; 1 D&AD In-book as well as AdFest success.
Y&R Malaysia’s overall tally of 96 awards in 2012 placed the agency in sixth position in the Asia Pacific region, having also been awarded the biggest honours in Malaysia’s advertising industry, winning both Golden Kancil ‘Best of the Best’ and being named ‘Agency of the Year’ at the Kancil Awards 2012, for the first time in its 19-year history.
New business wins included Media Prima TV Networks, Ferrari, Maserati, CIMB Mapletree, EXIM Bank and UEMLand.
“From being named Malaysia’s ‘Agency of the Year’ for the first time in its 19-year history, to being ranked among the top 20 agencies in the world by The Big Won Report, it’s been a year of wins not only on a creative front but also a great success on the business front thanks to Gigi’s and Lisa’s leadership of an impressive hungry team. Gigi’s and Lisa’s promotions are very well-deserved; which I am sure their fellow peers would agree,” commented Rebeschini.
Lisa Hezila started her career in marketing with Edaran Otomobil Nasional Berhad before joining Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Grand Prix as the Head of Marketing Communications and Sponsorship. After spending 6 years as a client, in October 2004 she joined Paragon YR to head the operation and, within just a few years, rebuilt the agency. In August 2010, she was promoted to Group GM for YR Group KL, working with the team on client's brands such as Colgate, Campbell’s, Cerebos, Malaysia Milk and others. Her philosophy of always thinking big has seen Y&R and Paragon Y&R aggressively look into tapping new business and has extended the agency offering beyond conventional advertising. Lisa was among the select few, and the only woman from Malaysia, to be named among Asia Pacific’s ‘Women to Watch’ by Campaign Asia Pacific
magazine in 2012.
Having started out ‘below the line’, Gigi Lee’s move into art direction saw her apply her craft to local and regional accounts, winning and handling brands like Tiger Beer, Guinness, Carlsberg, Kraft, Toyota, Lexus, Colgate, Campbell’s, KFC, local telecommunications providers and television networks, and more. Lee’s been with some of the most awarded agencies in town and won her share of metal including Spikes, AdFest, One Show, Clio, LIAA, NYFest, ANDY, D&AD and Cannes; shows everybody keeps talking about. Since returning to her roots at Y&R Malaysia, Lee led the creative to win the local Kancil Awards’ Best of Show, and the office’s first ever Agency of the Year award. Campaign Asia Pacific magazine named her Asia’s third most awarded art director, and just recently, The Big Won Report put the humble Malaysian office at world’s 19th most creative agency.
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