Dentsu APAC expands Siddarth Malhotra’s role to CEO of Isobar in Vietnam; Former CEO Denise Thi moves into Chair Lady position

Dentsu Asia Pacific has announced the promotion of Siddarth Malhotra to CEO Isobar Vietnam, in addition to his current role as Managing Director dentsu mcgarrybowen Vietnam. Former CEO Isobar Vietnam, Denise Thi, will be moving into the Chair Lady role to focus on employee engagement, clients relationship strengthening and innovation solution developing.

In his expanded role, Malhotra will be responsible for evolving the brand’s offerings as the market’s leading creative experience agency, building offerings around commerce and content, brand and product design as well as a establishing a network of different specialist partners.

Working closely together, Thi (pictured left) and Malhotra (pictured right) will be responsible for realising the agency’s vision, both reporting directly to Sanjay Bhasin, CEO dentsu Thailand, Vietnam & Myanmar. The roles will commence effective immediately.

Thi co-founded Emerald, which was acquired and rebranded to Isobar Vietnam by dentsu in 2015. She is the first Vietnamese woman to be awarded by Campaign Asia in the list of 40 Women to Watch in APAC who are making changes in Advertising industry, as well as Forbes Vietnam 2015 ’30 Under 30’ in Marketing & Start-up.

During her time as CEO Isobar Vietnam, the brand has grown from a local digital agency to an end-to-end integrated marketing agency, being the first in market to introduce brand commerce concept and solution design through digital activation in 2015. Thi continued to expand Isobar Vietnam’s brand commerce and successfully became partners with Lazada in Creative Commerce solution design in 2016, then later with AccessTrade in Connected Commerce offerings in 2021.

Bhasin said: “Denise has given us nothing but her full dedication and sheer commitment since she joined dentsu eight years ago. She is a remarkable leader who has spearheaded Isobar Vietnam into one of the market’s leading creative agencies, and has made headlines in the industry creating innovative concepts for brand activation. It is a natural progression for Denise to be promoted to the Chair Lady of Isobar Vietnam and I look forward to continuing building great work for our clients together.”

Bringing with him over 20 years of work experience – of which 12 years was spent specialising in Vietnam market, Malhotra joined dentsu in 2018 as Chief Client Officer to lead the new business initiative. For the last three consecutive years, Malhotra has successfully led his team to win at the MMA Smarties award at APAC and Vietnam level. Prior to joining dentsu, Malhotra was Client Servicing lead at MullenLowe Vietnam, where his team won at AME Awards and was also recognized at 4A’s Jay Chiat, and subsequently Client Services Director at Publicis Vietnam.

Bhasin said: “Siddarth brings with him not only strong business acumen, but also a strategic mind of dexterity and stamina. He has a deep understanding of how brands are built and has earned a reputation across the network as the best partner to help steer Isobar Vietnam and our clients to greater heights. This is a well-deserved promotion for Siddarth.”

Thi said: “Being the Chair Lady would allow me to have greater focus on what really builds sustainable impact to our people and business, while ensuring that the agency have strong support from Siddarth, the new CEO to take Isobar Vietnam to the next chapter of growth.”

Malhotra said: “Isobar Vietnam has one of the best agency teams and together with this excellent team I look forward to expand our capabilities and that can benefit our current and future clients.”