Publicis One appoints General Manager for Leo Burnett Vietnam

Lukasz Roszczyc, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Publicis One Vietnam announces the promotion of Kate Bayona-Garcia -currently Head of Digital & Innovations- to General Manager of Leo Burnett Vietnam.

This appointment follows the launch of Publicis One in Vietnam last year which saw Roszczyc, previously Managing Director, Leo Burnett Vietnam, appointed to CEO as part of the Publicis One Vietnam’s country board. The board is headed by Chairwoman, Ms. Hoang Thi Mai Huong and also includes Francois Goddet as Chief Integration Officer and Hoang Dao Hiep as Advisor for Growth.

In her new role, Bayona-Garcia will continue to develop the growing Leo Burnett operation in Ho Chi Minh City. “Over the past five years, Kate has been a strong contributor to the remarkable growth of the agency and the advancement of its capabilities. Claiming the coveted recognition as the Gold winner at Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year for four consecutive years is certainly no coincidence, the promotion of Kate recognises the key part she has played in this success. As one of the top leaders in Vietnam’s communications industry, Kate brings more than 12 years of international leadership to the role. I’m confident in her ability to foster further integration and collaboration of Leo Burnett with the greater Publicis One Vietnam team,’ said Roszczyc.

Speaking about her new role, Bayona-Garcia said, “Leo Burnett and the Publicis One transformation puts us ahead of the progressive agency evolution and on top of the dynamics in the communication industry. The new structure has empowered Leo Burnett’s hybrid capabilities while fostering effective collaboration across Publicis One and Publicis Groupe to deliver integrated solutions for our clients in line with or even ahead of the market trends. The focus for us now is to deliver results with this new structure, which will be an even more exciting journey ahead.”

Following her graduation as cum laude and awarded as Ten Outstanding Marketing Student in 2004 by Philippine Marketing Association, Bayona-Garcia took the challenge to pursue a career in Vietnam after a brief advertising stint in the Philippines. Moving to Vietnam 11 years ago when the country’s advertising industry was in its early development stage, Bayona-Garcia had taken big responsibilities in agencies she worked with. She is consistently recognized for her bold attempts to push for pioneering ideas. From traditional media to activation and events, then digital and social, Bayona-Garcia has been through a relentless adventure of persistently delivering "edgy" communication solutions for brands. In 2009, she joined Leo Burnett Vietnam and was appointed to set up and lead the Digital & Innovations unit for the agency in 2012. During this time, she grew the unit from a team of four to over 50, accelerated the agency’s revenue in digital business and contributed greatly to the agency’s key new business wins. Her innovative yet insightful approach that goes beyond digital has been pivotal to the outstanding “first in Vietnam” initiatives created for brands including Samsung, YoMost, Dutch Lady (FrieslandCampina) and P&G. As a key member of the team, Kate has played a significant role in Leo Burnett Vietnam’s recognition as the Gold winner of Campaign Asia’s Agency of The Year for four years in a row and Gold winner of Campaign Asia’s Digital Agency of the Year in 2015.