DO. Agency appoints Simon Lockyer as partner and MD of Asia

DO. Agency has appointed Simon Lockyer as partner and managing director of DO. Asia, following the departure of Matt Collier from the business for personal reasons.

Lockyer steps into the regional leadership and ownership role with more than two decades of experience across marketing, advertising and digital transformation. His background spans agency and client-side roles at Cognizant, Edelman, IBM iX, Ogilvy, FCB, and Cathay Pacific.

Lockyer will lead the DO. Asia team alongside partner and executive creative director Beer Poonnootok across the agency’s six existing markets - Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia - while also driving new expansion efforts. The appointment comes as DO. prepares to launch into the UK market later this year.

“It’s never easy to replace a leader like Matt Collier, so when we discovered mid-way through a region-wide search that Simon was interested, we could not have been more excited,” Andrew Dowling, founder and group CEO of DO, said. “His collective experience across marketing, advertising and tech in Asia brings new motivation, perspective and opportunity to the table.”

Lockyer said the agency’s philosophy strongly aligned with his own.

“As someone who believes passionately in creative thinking, strategic doing and always people-focused, the team and ethos at DO resonated strongly,” he said. “It’s a network where bold thinking meets real action, and I’m excited to bring my experience across marketing, advertising, digital, and tech to help brands defy ordinary.”

Lockyer’s appointment follows a period of rapid growth for the DO. micro-network since launching in Asia in 2022, including its entry into Malaysia earlier this year.