Ho, formally an agency planner and brand manager, joins from Clear Ideas Asia where he was consultancy director leading its North Asia operation.

He will be working with Daniel Tompsett, global commercial director at Face Asia and will be responsible for strategy and insight development in the region.

Speaking on Face’s blog, Ho said that the challenge was to see how the advertising industry would adapt to “people’s frustrations with traditional research and half-hearted innovation”.

He said: “There are a few strategic magicians out there, but generally speaking the planning pool is shallow in Asia and full of slap-dash gun slingers, let alone those capable of adopting the discipline to crack both creative, consumer and business strategy.”

Face opened its Hong Kong office as its Asia hub in October 2012 and is working with major brands such as Coke, Nokia, Reckitt Benckiser and General Motors.