Tim Schlick joins Thoughtful Media as Senior VP, Strategy & Market Development, Asia-Pacific

Thoughtful Media Group (TMG) has appointed one of China’s leading planning and strategy specialists, Tim Schlick, as senior vice president, strategy and market development, Asia-Pacific, effective immediately.

The company, which is also active in the U.S, entered the Chinese market in 2010. Schlick (left), who is based in Shanghai, will be responsible for establishing a presence for the company in the rest of Asia-Pacific, particularly in key markets like Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, where social media and digital spending are rising significantly.

“The creation of Tim’s role at Thoughtful comes at a time when we are looking to relocate successful formats to other Asia-Pacific territories. We expect that Tim will play a large and important part of our coming growth plans,” said Jak Severson, Thoughtful Media’s global CEO in Los Angeles.

Schlick  began his career as a management consultant at Accenture, where he specialized in business process reengineering and CRM. In 2000, he joined McCann Erickson to help launch its digital agency Zentropy Partners, which subsequently merged into MRM Worldwide. In 2003, McCann Worldgroup asked him to drive the integration of its group agencies and develop through-the-line strategic planning capabilities.

He launched and managed McCann Momentum in Germany in 2006, and the division specializing in retail marketing, promotion, sponsorship and branded entertainment grew to five offices with 40 staff in its first year. In 2010, Schlick relocated to Shanghai, as head of strategic planning, Greater China at DDB Group, turning in-depth consumer insights across China into actionable marketing strategies.

“One of the key challenges for almost every brand I have worked on is the struggle to get both exposure and engagement with consumers. This is particularly difficult in markets like China, where the speed of the market has resulted in a uniquely complex world for marketers. How do brands stand out in the currently most important market on the planet, when media inflation is at 25% and they have to engage a mass of consumers incomparable to any other market? It was this question that I have found Thoughtful Media having the perfect answer to, and I simply had to be part of this,” Schlick said