Ali Shabaz to take up chief creative officer role for Grey Group Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia

Ali Shabaz has been appointed to the newly-created position of Chief Creative Officer of Grey Group Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand with immediate effect. He is based in Singapore.

“In a rapidly changing marketing landscape, we are even more committed to delivering brilliant ideas and creative work that successfully engage people and generate results for our clients. I am delighted that we are attracting a pool of top creative talents, as seen by our strategic partnership with Jay Furby in Australia, and now Ali, both of whom will help bring us closer to becoming the most “Famously Effective” network in the region,” said Nirvik Singh, Grey Group Asia Pacific’s Chairman & CEO.

“There is great promise in the plans lined up for Grey Group AsiaPacific and I am looking ahead to working with a dynamic creative forcein the three markets,” Shabaz said.

Shabaz’s primary focus is to lead Grey Group Singapore’s creative team,handling its roster of clients such as Wildlife Reserves Singapore,Qatar Airways, ESPN STAR Sports, Metro, AXA, GlaxoSmithKline andMitsubishi Motors. He is responsible for elevating the creativestandards and raising the creative profile of Grey Group Singaporecomprising Grey, G2 and Batey. He also oversees creative development atGrey Group Indonesia, with clients including GlaxoSmithKline, Mayora,Orang Tua Group, Avena Cooking Oil, Wyeth Nutrition, Barclays, BankMandiri and Nestlé Professional, and in Thailand for clients likeProcter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, AXA and the UNFPA (UnitedNations Population Fund).

Commenting on Shabaz’s appointment, Subbaraju Alluri, CEO of Grey GroupSingapore, said, “Ali is highly respected as a truly passionatecreative professional with one of the sharpest minds in the Singaporecreative scene. Widely acclaimed as one of Singapore’s most reveredcreatives, he has an outstanding track record of producing impactful,award-winning work for clients. He is a definite boost to our creativecredentials and I look forward to the fresh burst of energy that hewill bring into the agency.”

Previously from JWT Singapore, Shabaz served as Associate CreativeDirector in 2005. Within a year, he was promoted to Creative Directorand honoured “Advertising Professional of the Year” at The SingaporeAdvertising Hall of Fame Awards. To add, he was ranked the 11th”Hottest Creative” for two years in Asia and voted one of “Singapore’sMost Influential Creative Directors” by the Institute of AdvertisingSingapore for three consecutive years since its launch. Under hiswatch, the agency ended 2007 as the best performing JWT office andthird most awarded WPP office in the world. In 2008, Shabaz rose to theposition of Executive Creative Director, the same year that the officewas ranked as the sixth “Most Creative Agency” in Asia.

Formerly, Shabaz help build BBDO Singapore’s creative reputation overhis five-year tenure to become the second most creative agencyaccording to Campaign Brief Asia. Under his helm, the agency’s printcampaign for Pizza Hut was acknowledged as the eighth most awardedprint campaign globally in the Gunn Report.

A 17-year advertising veteran, Shabaz has worked in India, the MiddleEast and Singapore on a diverse range of local and international brandslike Visa, KFC, FedEx and ICI Paints which won him a slew of awards atCannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clio, Effies, AdFest and Spikes Asia.