Omnicom Media Appoints David McCallen as Chief Strategy Officer, Asia Pacific
CE DESK 
Omnicom Media has appointed David McCallen as Chief Strategy Officer for Asia Pacific. Omnicom Media, known as OM, is an Omnicom Connected Capability, and this new role is meant to guide strategic excellence across the entire region.
McCallen has relocated to Singapore from Auckland to take up this position. In his new job, he will shape breakthrough strategies for clients across the region. He will also work with local markets to localise and operationalise global strategy across APAC. Along with this, he will focus on growing local strategic teams through coaching and capability building. He will report directly to Tony Harradine, CEO of OM Asia Pacific.
McCallen brings more than 20 years of experience across APAC, Oceania, and Europe. His career spans both agency-side and client-side roles, covering customer experience, creative work, and media strategy. He is known for connecting data, creativity, and media together to create strategies that deliver real business results.
Before this role, McCallen was Asia Pacific Chief Strategy Officer at OMD, which is one of Omnicom’s media agencies. He held this position for four years, starting in April 2022. During his time there, OMD’s Asia Pacific network made major progress. It climbed from the fifth position to the top spot in RECMA rankings, and it has stayed dominant in the region since then. Under his strategic leadership, OMD was also named APAC Media Network of the Year at Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year Awards for two years in a row. This had not happened in the region for almost 20 years. The agency also won APAC Digital Innovation Network of the Year in 2025.
Before his regional role, McCallen led strategy at OMD New Zealand for five years. During this time, OMD reached the top position in the market for new business, overall billings, and industry awards. The agency won Campaign Asia’s Media Agency of the Year four times within five years. It was also named runner-up for Global Media Agency of the Year during that period.
McCallen’s career journey includes work at several respected agencies. He worked as Planning Director at Colenso BBDO and DDB New Zealand. He also spent time at RappTribal, Dynamo Communications and Media, and had a stint in London with PartnersAndrewsAldridge. Earlier in his career, he worked as a senior planner at OgilvyOne and a creative planner at Vibrandt. He also spent five years as a category manager at Unilever in the UK, which gave him strong client-side experience early on.
Industry observers see this appointment as a strong move by Omnicom Media. By bringing McCallen into this newly created regional role, the company aims to build strategy more deeply into its operating model across Asia Pacific. His track record at OMD, both in New Zealand and across the wider region, is expected to support Omnicom Media’s next phase of growth in a market that is constantly changing.
