dentsu APAC Promotes Strategy and Insight Leaders

​Dentsu Asia Pacific has appointed two key promotions to its leadership bench, as part of its commitment to deepening its insight-driven, strategic excellence. Mimi Lu has been appointed head of insight and intelligence APAC and Richard Reid will be stepping into the role of head of media strategy APAC, charged with strengthening dentsu’s offering to deliver smarter, more connected growth solutions for clients across the region.

Mimi brings over a decade of experience in strategy, brand and communications. She has spent the past year leading the media strategy team for dentsu across APAC, where she has leant on her expertise of embedding intelligence into client solutions and played a key role in shaping dentsu’s ‘culture to commerce’ model now being scaled globally.

In the newly-created role, Mimi will lead the development of insight products across media, creative and CXM practices. She will collaborate closely with the APAC Product & Development team on new product innovation, embedding intelligence across planning disciplines and activating insights through dentsu’s regional partnerships.

Commenting on her new role, Mimi said, “Insight and intelligence are no longer just support functions – they’re strategic growth drivers. I’m excited to help shape dentsu’s next chapter by building products that bring cultural understanding, data fluency and commercial relevance together. The opportunity to work across creative, media and CXM gives us a unique platform to deliver ideas that are both human and high-performing.”

Promoted to the role as head of media strategy APAC, Richard will lead dentsu media’s strategy function, infusing creative thinking into media planning, accelerating new business momentum, and rolling out strategic training across Carat, iProspect and dentsu X.

Richard steps into his new role after four years of scaling strategic excellence across the region as integrated strategy partner, Solutions APAC. He expanded the Heineken business, delivered award-winning work for Toyota’s Olympics campaign and contributed to the regional rollout of BX – dentsu’s Business Transformation offering. His creative agency background brings a fresh perspective to media strategy, reinforcing the belief of media not only being performance-led, but idea-driven.

Richard said, “It’s a privilege to take on this role at a time when the future of media demands bold thinking, creative curiosity and strategic clarity. I’m looking forward to building on the incredible work of our teams across the region and helping brands unlock more effective, insight-led growth by connecting media strategy to culture, creativity and commerce.”

Clay Schouest, chief strategy officer APAC, dentsu commented, “We are building a culture where strategic thinking is deeply connected to intelligence and creativity. Mimi and Richard are proven leaders who have helped shape how we deliver meaningful growth for clients. Their progression reflects our commitment to nurturing talent from within and creating pathways for leaders to thrive.”

Both leaders will report to Clay Schouest, chief strategy officer APAC, dentsu, and remain based in Singapore, effective immediately.