gyro bolsters APAC teams with strategy and media business hires

Dentsu Aegis Network’s gyro has appointed Rhys Taylor (pictured right) as head of strategy Asia Pacific, and Tim Micallef (pictured left) as media business director of Australia and New Zealand. In his new role, Taylor will oversee the agency’s strategic and planning capabilities, tasked with driving digital strategy and solutions across its offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.He will also be leading the APAC team of planners and strategists. Currently based in Sydney, Taylor will relocate to Singapore in the last quarter of 2018 to sit within the regional headquarters, the statement said. Prior to the move, Taylor was most recently associate director at Wunderman Australia and New Zealand where he was client lead on the HSBC Australia creative and digital account.Meanwhile, Micallef will helm the media product in Australia. Previously, he was an account director at Ikon Communications, where he helped build the Commonwealth Bank digital and agency team to create best in class data, acquisition and trading strategies, the statement added.“[Taylor]’s a dynamic B2B leader and is highly respected in the industry. He has a great diversity of experience across industry sectors and the full scope of integrated marketing services from data and digital to channel and CRM and more,” Kieran Vye, managing director of gyro APAC said.Vye added that Micallef has a great track record of driving innovation, and the agency is excited to have him lead the media business in the agency’s Australia and New Zealand offices.“As the Pacific markets are forecasted to pick up steadily on ad spend, we want to ensure we’re at the forefront with our media offerings,” Vye said.