Huw Davis joins Blueberry Wave to lead Asia business

huw_davis1Blueberry Wave is ratcheting up its global expansion strategy with the appointment of former Wunderman and Havas data chief Huw Davis to spearhead the company’s drive into the Asia Pacific region.

The business, which also opened offices in Hong Kong and San Francisco last year, has handed Davis the role of data and analytics director APAC.

The appointment is part of Blueberry Wave’s strategy to create a data powered customer experience business across Asia, as well as in the Americas and EMEA.

Davis’ focus will be to build and develop the company’s data operations in the region, supporting both local and global clients for investment partner HH Global, as well as Blueberry Wave’s global business.

He will also support the acquisition of businesses in the region, following last month’s deal which saw Blackstone Tactical Opportunities invest £100m in HH Global.

A highly respected data industry figure, Davis started his career as a trainee actuary at Bupa Health Insurance in 1983 before switching to a forecasting role within the marketing team, ultimately becoming product manager.

Davis then joined Abbey National but by 1989 he had been poached to lead analytics start-up Data by Design, which was sold to Experian in 1998.

Senior roles at Ogilvy, EHS Brann Discovery and Euro RSCG 4D (since rebranded Havas Helia) followed, until 2007 when Davis launched two businesses, the Huw Davis Partnership and Nanomarketing, with offices in both Singapore and the UK. He once said: “In a nutshell we take all sorts of messy client data and turn it into a valuable asset.”

In 2016, Davis also took on the role of data and analytics lead APAC for Wunderman (now Wunderman Thompson) but stepped down in December last year.

Blueberry Wave chief executive Nick Dixon, who is also a board director of HH Global, said: “Huw has both the entrepreneurial spirit and expertise in data strategy that will help us accelerate the growth of Blueberry Wave in APAC. He will also provide significant strategic support for HH Global’s existing client base in the region.”

Davis added: “When Nick approached me with details of the role, I didn’t hesitate to take it. This is a great opportunity to bring all my years of knowledge to HH Global’s extensive blue chip client base.

“I’m hugely excited about building a market-leading proposition by developing and augmenting the fantastic existing talent and capabilities within Blueberry Wave. I believe that the development of our APAC offering will make a significant contribution to our growth strategy, and allow us to continue the recent success of Blueberry Wave and HH Global – watch this space.”

HH Global APAC chief executive Craig Bingon commented: “Huw’s experience in Asian markets will allow us to provide our clients with informed, strategic advice on how to maximise data and analytics within their organisation, and in particular the Asian markets. Our strength is our ability to provide an independent view of customer segmentation, media mix and effectiveness of clients’ marketing campaigns.”

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