Omnicom Media Group expands Accuen footprint amidst leadership change
Omnicom Media Group’s programmatic unit, Accuen, has formalised the expansion of its strategic teams into several local markets across the region. The group will hand more strategic responsibilities over to local markets further bolstering local capabilities beyond the current major hubs of Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Auckland.
The development is also marked with change of guard at Accuen. The agency has hired Dharmesh Patel as Matthew Harty, Regional MD for Accuen, moves on from the organisation. The changes will be effective in the second quarter of the year.
Mr Patel’s mandate includes bolstering support across regional operations and developing the audience insights architecture under the new structure. He was most recently Head of Programmatic at Unanimis London – a UK based digital advertising network specialising in branded and performance display advertising, across internet and mobile. Reporting to Lee Smith, the CEO of Annalect Group Asia Pacific, Omnicom Media Group’s technology, data and analytics arm, Mr Patel will be based in Annalect’s regional headquarters in Singapore.
“We’re moving into a new phase with the business. We have made a lot of investments in education, technology, training and insights capability in the programmatic space. Many new markets are developed and autonomous now that the critical components, inventory structures and vendors are in place locally. We’re looking forward to a very healthy next stage in the programmatic landscape across the broader Accuen footprint,” said Mr Smith.
Mr Harty, a respected professional in the data driven advertising and marketing space, is leaving the organisation two years after helping to seed the regional offering. Commenting on this development, Mr Smith remarked, “Matt has delivered beyond the brief to get us to where we are in the offering today. We were six months ahead of the market at launch under his leadership, and we are still ahead of the pack as we move into the next phase of the business. Matt has been instrumental in getting Accuen (and the marketplace) tuned up to deal with the new audience buying landscape. We wish him the very best in his new venture.”
