MSQ and Elmwood Appoint Susie Hunt as Chair for Asia

Global next-gen creative, tech and media group, MSQ, and its multi-award winning design consultancy, Elmwood, has announced the appointment of seasoned marketing industry expert Susie Hunt as chair of MSQ and Elmwood in Asia, where she will support and accelerate the expansion of the group’s successful and highly awarded team to deliver in region brand strategy, design excellence and brand communications.

Susie has been living and working in Asia Pacific for over 25 years, including most recently in Beijing where she focused on growth strategies for China based companies. She now brings a wealth of experience to her new role with MSQ and Elmwood. She was previously Asia Pacific chair for Futurebrand at IPG, where she advised leading Asian companies and governments, including UOB, The Singapore Government, CITIC PE, Alibaba and the Kingdom of Bhutan. 

Her career in Asia began at WPP with JWT, where she was the Asia Pacific regional director, working for clients including Diageo, Pfizer, The Wall Street Journal and Kellogg’s. Then, as Pacific regional lead for Brand Union, Susie strengthened the business’ corporate branding practice and developed new revenue streams in consumer and retail brand experience for clients including Levi’s, Coca-Cola and Motorola. Susie later co-founded her own brand experience consultancy HuntHaggarty, specialising in the Mainland China, South East Asia and India, including working with leading tech companies such as Google. Hunt is now an Industry Mentor at the Schwarzman Institute at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and advises the Museum for the United Nations - UN LIVE. 

Susie’s appointment follows MSQ’s recent acquisition of New York-based creative agency, SPCSHP, a move that doubles their presence in the US as part of their global expansion plans. 

“Susie’s appointment is a reinforcement of our commitment to the international growth of MSQ and the importance of Asia for our clients and agencies,” says Bart Michels, Executive Board Director at MSQ Partners. “There is massive potential for the expansion of MSQ’s joined up creative, data and tech proposition in the region and, given her breadth of experience and her reputation, Susie will be the perfect champion to help us achieve this.” 

Elmwood global CEO Daniel Binns says, “Susie has worked with many of the largest brands in the region and at the most senior level and understands the culture of the region incredibly well. She therefore has exactly the right skills and experience to help drive the growth of our business and support the continued expansion of our services as we transition from pure design to experience design and from a largely consumer business to a more balanced consumer and corporate brand consultancy. We’re so excited to welcome her to our team.” 

Based in Hong Kong, Susie’s extensive Asia experience will be key to supporting the continued growth of the MSQ network and providing clients with access to the expertise of the entire MSQ group, encompassing advertising, design and dynamic creative content and production services. Her rich corporate branding experience will also be key to further developing Elmwood’s own capabilities, building on the consultancy’s recent work with consumer healthcare company, Kenvue, Chinese restaurant group, Haidilao, and multinational confectionery giant, Mars.

“What really drives and inspires me is the quality and agility of the creative product we can offer to our clients fuelled by the very latest global expertise in data and tech. MSQ and Elmwood continue to creatively disrupt our industry positively in Asia with technology and data driven solutions to anticipate client needs,” says Susie Hunt. “I’m proud to be part of such a talented team and I look forward to increasing our presence in this key growth region.”