Edelman Asia Pacific appoints Matt Collette as regional VP for digital

Edelman Asia Pacific has hired Matt Collette, former executive group director for Ogilvy Singapore, as vice chair of digital for Edelman Asia Pacific. Collette will oversee Edelman’s Digital operations spanning 11 markets in the region and will report to Asia Pacific COO, Bob Grove. He will be responsible for evolving and delivering the firm’s portfolio of market-leading digital services and Edelman’s integrated strategy solutions.

As the digital leader for the region, Collette will lead capability experts to research, plan and develop comprehensive digital and social programs that earn attention and build trust across a wide array of services. These offerings include performance marketing, e-commerce, business-to-business marketing, digital transformation consulting, influencer marketing, behavioral analysis, analytics, newsrooms and content studios.

With 15 years of experience across digital, social media and content marketing working with local, regional and global brands, Collette has a deep passion for addressing the complex marketing challenges of modern businesses through creativity and technology.  Prior to his first foray into digital, Collette spent several years in agency communications roles. He returns as a previous employee of Edelman of more than seven years where he served in a variety of roles, including as managing director of Zeno Singapore, from 2016 to 2018.

During his time in this role, Collette grew business revenue by over 30% with a focus on integrated social media led marketing. He then went on to join Ogilvy as executive group director for the Social & Content Studio, overseeing key client relationships, providing bespoke counsel and driving the day to day operational and strategic business outcomes of the group.

Stephen Kehoe, CEO and president of Edelman Asia Pacific, said: "Collette’s appointment brings a wealth of experience in understanding the convergence of the digital landscape with the broader communications environment. This will greatly benefit our clients as the whole region continues its breakneck speed of digital transformation.”

Thomas Crampton, global chair, digital at Edelman, said: “It goes to the core of our culture that we have talent such as Matt coming back into the Edelman fold. His deep knowledge of the digital ecosystem, including existing and emerging social media platforms, advertising and marketing technologies will be invaluable as we continue to develop Edelman’s digital capabilities in APAC.”

Collette said: “I’m humbled by the opportunity to work with this talented group of people to set the digital agenda for Edelman in the region. As our industry continues to evolve and it becomes increasingly difficult to reach and engage audiences, getting fully immersed into how we can unlock technology and data to help solve the challenges of modern marketers is something I’m excited to explore.”