IPG Mediabrands names APAC president for UM

IPG Mediabrands' Hong Kong CEO Kasper Aakerlund will lead UM in APAC, taking the newly created role of president.

Aakerlund joined as Hong Kong CEO in September 2016. He will relocate from Hong Kong to Singapore, and the appointment is effective immediately.

In the new role reporting Leigh Terry, IPG Mediabrands APAC CEO, and Daryl Lee, UM Global CEO, Aakerlund will "champion better science, better art, and better outcomes" across 13 markets, "with a strategic lead on growth and precision marketing anchored in business analytics and real-time data intelligence", according to the company.

IPG Mediabrands Hong Kong will be led by an executive leadership team consisting of the local market agency leads, the company said.

Aakerlund has a proven track record in digital transformation, "coupled with an irrepressible drive and energy that achieves tangible momentum", Terry said in a release.

The company credits Aakerlund with the launch and growth of several specialised business units, including a social and content hub, while he was CEO in Hong Kong. In addition, his investment in data and programmatic saw programmatic spend triple in the last two years, according to IPG Mediabrands.

Earlier in his career, Aakerlund was chief digital officer of Carat and Vizeum, and CEO and head of Isobar Nordics, before moving to Asia as COO and CDIO of GroupM Vietnam and Indonesia.

UM improved its grade in Campaign Asia-Pacific's most recent Agency Report Card, where Terry was listed as the APAC head.