Holmes & Marchant Follows Up Elmwood Merger with New China MD Hire

Hot on the heels of MSQ's acquisition of Elmwood and the subsequent merger of the agency with Holmes & Marchant, the international marketing group has hired Caroline So as Managing Director for H&M's Shanghai studio.

So has held client service strategy and management roles for advertising agencies for the past 19 years, most recently working for Media.Monks as VP of client engagement. She has extensive experience in Beauty and Spirits, working with clients like Unilever, P&G, L’Oreal and ABInBev.

By joining holmes&marchant, which merged with Elmwood last month, So will lead China’s activities for one of the world’s top-tier design agencies. Along with the agency's other Managing Directors in London, New York and Singapore, she will also build upon MSQ’s digital and tech capabilities, bringing greater insight and channel-specific expertise to meet the needs of today’s leading brands in Asia.

So said: “It is an exciting time for MSQ. I’m thrilled to be part of the leadership team at H&M, building MSQ’s multi-disciplinary offering beyond branding and design to create truly integrated creative solutions for marketers."

Paul Galesloot, CEO of Holmes & Marchant, says: “We couldn’t be happier to welcome Caroline into our recently enlarged family. Digital technologies and drive for customer-centricity have completely transformed the FMCG industry, especially in China. By combining our strengths in brand design with data, digital and tech, we aim to help brands solve these challenges - and Caroline’s experience in digital, data-driven marketing, content and e-commerce will be aa real asset here."