DDB's David Tang to replace John Zeigler as Asia CEO

DDB Worldwide has appointed David Tang as the agency’s new chief executive officer in Asia, effective October 1, 2015.Tang is replacing John Zeigler, who after 29 years at DDB and 11 years at the helm of DDB Group Asia Pacific, is retiring from the agency to become Chairman Emeritus, DDB Asia Pacific.Currently, president and chief executive officer of DDB Group Singapore—a role he will continue to hold—Tang is tasked to power up the Singapore office as a regional hub for key DDB clients in Asia.Based in Singapore, Tang will oversee DDB offices in Southeast Asia, Greater China, Japan and Korea, and report directly to Chuck Brymer, chief executive officer of DDB Worldwide.As part of the agency’s succession plan to strengthen leadership, Neil Johnson, currently chief creative officer at DDB Group Singapore is promoted to executive chairman of the Singapore office, taking on business and management responsibilities, while working closely with Tang.“We’re all true Singaporeans and like the Singapore Inc strategy, we aspire to be a centre of excellence for our clients. We owe it to our clients in Singapore and colleagues in Asia to become stronger and better, ” Tang said.“David and I have a long partnership, we’re hands-on practitioners and hope to lift our game to a whole new level across disciplines and offices," added Johnson.The Singapore agency as a hub office is expected to further strengthen with key talent hire in creative, digital, technology and shopper marketing.Much of the agency’s success can be attributed to Tang and his strong management team, each of whom have an average of 8.5 years tenure at DDB.Brymer said: “David has led an exceptional agency and management team with Neil, Rowena, Jeff and Joji. We want them to do the best sort of work from Singapore."