MAM
Belson Coutinho comes on board as VFS Global’s CMO
MUMBAI: Belson Coutinho has joined VFS Global as Chief Marketing Officer effective July 2019, and will be responsible for driving the company’s global Marketing & Branding strategy across its vast network of 147 countries spanning 5 continents. He joins the management team to support the organisation's growth & business plans and will also manage overall Customer Service, Quality, Information Services and Loyalty in his role.
Prior to VFS Global, Belson Coutinho was Sr. Vice President at Jet Airways, heading the airline’s global marketing, digital, social media, eCommerce, loyalty & Voice of Guest strategy.
A highly experienced marketer, Belson Coutinho has been instrumental in setting up and managing Jet Airways' global marketing, digital, social media, eCommerce and Voice of Guest strategy and pioneered various innovative industry-first initiatives in the global aviation industry.
With the continuous increase in visa applicants at VFS Global Visa Application Centres globally, the company is in the process of further extending its customer service to applicants – consolidating various support aspects of Customer Care across all online and offline touch-points, Information Services for applicants and Quality management – to offer a holistic and fully integrated customer experience for applicants and for the company’s client governments. As part of his responsibilities, Belson Coutinho will lead these efforts, in addition to leading the Marketing and Branding function.
Mr. Zubin Karkaria, CEO, VFS Global Group said, "We are pleased to have Belson join VFS Global as our Chief Marketing Officer. He brings a unique combination of experience in marketing, loyalty and customer care with a strong focus on leveraging technology. With his background and expertise in the field, we look forward to having Belson further strengthen VFS Global’s brand in global markets and enhance overall customer experience."
Mr. Belson Coutinho, Chief Marketing Officer, VFS Global said, “VFS Global is the pioneer in visa, passport, identity management and citizen services for client governments and I am delighted to be a part of VFS Global. Building a strong consumer brand and enhanced customer experience will be my key focus and I am excited to leverage my experience across various mediums and markets globally. I look forward to collaborate with our partners, stakeholders and our highly committed & talented colleagues to play an integral role in further enhancing VFS Global’s brand and business globally.”
AD Agencies
Omnicom Advertising Asia assembles new regional leadership team
The group is betting that a blend of creative talent, cultural intelligence and AI-driven data can help brands stay relevant in the world’s most complex marketing region.
Asia has long been the market that humbles the overconfident. Omnicom Advertising Asia is determined not to be among them.
The group announced on Monday the formation of a new regional leadership team of six senior executives, reporting to Sean Donovan, president of OA Asia. The structure is designed to help brands navigate a fragmented, fast-moving consumer landscape and build what Donovan calls “long-term cultural relevance” — the kind that survives a news cycle, a platform shift and an algorithm update.
The team
The six appointments span creativity, innovation, strategy, intelligence, business development and marketing, covering the full arc from brand idea to commercial outcome.
Peter Khoury takes on the role of chief creative officer for OA Asia, Melissa Daniels becomes chief innovation officer, and Emmanuel Sabbagh steps up as chief strategy officer. All three take on expanded regional responsibilities while retaining their leadership positions at TBWA\Singapore.
Andreas Krasser broadens his remit to chief client partner for OA Asia, continuing simultaneously as chief executive of OA Hong Kong. Ellie Brocklehurst joins as chief growth and marketing officer, drawing on her previous stint as chief marketing officer for Asia at TBWA. Rounding out the team is S. Subramanyeswar, known in the industry as Subbu, who was appointed chief knowledge officer for OA Asia alongside his role as chief strategy officer of OA India, a position that followed the close of Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG.The pitch
The team will work in close collaboration with leadership across TBWA, McCann and BBDO throughout the OA Asia network, with a brief to cut through the noise of today’s consumer landscape and deliver creative solutions that, in the group’s framing, prove short-term performance while building long-term brand health.
Underpinning the new structure is OMNI, Omnicom’s AI-driven marketing intelligence platform. The platform draws cultural intelligence from across the group’s agency brands, with the stated aim of ensuring that data is not merely accurate but grounded in context — reflecting how people actually think, feel and behave, rather than how a spreadsheet might prefer them to.
Donovan frames the proposition in straightforward terms. “Asia is one of the most complex regions for marketers, but the opportunity here is immense,” he says. “We’ve built a team that simplifies the landscape, combining top talent with an Asia-first, future-focused mindset, and unprecedented access to resources.” The model, he adds, is designed to be plug-and-play, responding to client needs in collaboration with agencies and markets across the region. “More than expertise, it’s about giving clients the perspective, ambition and access to think beyond the next campaign.”
The new structure also strengthens connections across the broader Omnicom family, including its media, production and PR operations — a post-acquisition suite of capabilities that the group is evidently keen to deploy as a single, coherent offering.
In a region where consumer attention is fractured across dozens of platforms, languages and cultures, the real test will not be the org chart. It will be whether six smart people with the right tools can actually make brands matter. Omnicom is putting its money on yes.
