J. Walter Thompson and Mirum Singapore launch new specialist social media unit The Social Team headed up by Ivan Ng and Kimberley Olsen

J. Walter Thompson and Mirum Singapore have launched The Social Team, a new social media offering that provides clients access to digital, analytics, content, strategy and creative expertise across both agencies through one specialized team.

“This is all about creating synergies for our clients. We’ve got social media expertise on both our agencies, we’ve got a tier-one content production unit at JWT, a market-leading digital and social analytics team at Mirum – it made sense, from the client’s point of view, to bring together a ‘best of’ team to deliver the social media strategy and content they need,” said Nanda Ivens, Asia Pacific CEO of Mirum.

The Social Team will be headed up Ivan Ng and Kimberley Olsen, who joined Mirum in January 2015 to set up a specialist department in order to drive the agency’s social business. Ng, who has been appointed Head of Social, will take on a more strategic role while Olsen will focus on business development across the region. The pair will report to Ivens, at Mirum, and to Peter Womersley, CEO J. Walter Thompson Singapore.

The Social Team’s new focus lies on building communities that aim to connect people on a deeper, emotional level to brands, using both creative content and data to engage and convert these communities into passionate brand advocates.

Since joining Mirum in January 2015, Ng and Olsen have worked on growing existing Mirum accounts as well as adding new clients such as American Tourister, Dulux Paint, Clarke Quay and Crabtree & Evelyn to their roster.

The newly-enlarged social team, which is comprised of a dedicated staff of writers, designers, analysts and strategists drawn from both agencies, will continue to service existing clients across both agencies, while working in tandem with account teams across both agencies to expand its client roster.

“Mirum and JWT are building ever closer ties, and The Social Team has been set up in response to the increasing clamour from our clients for a specialist team of experts who use data to inform content planning and manage real time engagement communications.  The combination of JWT’s brand centric approach to delivering pioneering ideas and Mirum’s technology platform expertise will ensure our clients have powerful, high quality social content that connects with consumers in a meaningful manner,” said J. Walter Thompson Singapore CEO, Peter Womersley. “Brands are finding it increasingly challenging to cut through the morass of information available in the social world and I am incredibly excited by the unique service this new venture will offer.”