Dentsu APAC bolsters insight-driven excellence with senior appointments

Dentsu has bolstered its leadership by appointing Mimi Lu (pictured left) as head of insight and intelligence APAC and Richard Reid (pictured right) as head of media strategy APAC. Both leaders will report to Clay Schouest, chief strategy officer APAC, dentsu, and remain based in Singapore, effective immediately.

The appointments come as part of dentsu's commitment to deepening its insight-driven, strategic excellence. Lu and Reid will be charged with strengthening dentsu’s offering to deliver smarter, more connected growth solutions for clients across the region.

In the newly-created role, Lulu will lead the development of insight products across media, creative and CXM practices. She will collaborate closely with the APAC product and development team on new product innovation, embedding intelligence across planning disciplines and activating insights through dentsu’s regional partnerships.

Lu brings over a decade of experience in strategy, brand and communications. She has spent the past year leading the media strategy team for dentsu across APAC, where she has leant on her expertise of embedding intelligence into client solutions and played a key role in shaping dentsu’s ‘culture to commerce’ model now being scaled globally. 

As head of media strategy APAC, Reid will lead dentsu media’s strategy function, infusing creative thinking into media planning, accelerating new business momentum, and rolling out strategic training across Carat, iProspect and dentsu X.

Reid steps into his new role after four years of scaling strategic excellence across the region as integrated strategy partner, solutions APAC. He expanded the Heineken business, delivered award-winning work for Toyota’s Olympics campaign and contributed to the regional rollout of BX – dentsu’s business transformation offering. His creative agency background brings a fresh perspective to media strategy, reinforcing the belief of media not only being performance-led, but idea-driven.

Schouest said: “We are building a culture where strategic thinking is deeply connected to intelligence and creativity. Lu and Reid are proven leaders who have helped shape how we deliver meaningful growth for clients. Their progression reflects our commitment to nurturing talent from within and creating pathways for leaders to thrive."

Lu added, “Insight and intelligence are no longer just support functions – they’re strategic growth drivers. I’m excited to help shape dentsu’s next chapter by building products that bring cultural understanding, data fluency and commercial relevance together. The opportunity to work across creative, media and CXM gives us a unique platform to deliver ideas that are both human and high-performing.”

Meanwhile, Reid said: “It’s a privilege to take on this role at a time when the future of media demands bold thinking, creative curiosity and strategic clarity. I’m looking forward to building on the incredible work of our teams across the region and helping brands unlock more effective, insight-led growth by connecting media strategy to culture, creativity and commerce.” 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to dentsu for more information.

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