Tag: Xaxis

Singapore – GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has announced a roster of C-suite appointments in APAC that will be leading the regional transformation of GroupM Nexus – the global performance organisation that unites the network’s performance talent and technologies into one single outfit.

The appointees are Arshan Saha, the new CEO of GroupM Nexus APAC, Jon Thurlow, the new COO of GroupM Nexus APAC, Deepika Nikhilender, the new CEO of Xaxis APAC, and Brett Poole, the new CEO of Finecast APAC and AUNZ.

A founding member of Xaxis APAC, Saha rose through the ranks to become APAC CEO of Xaxis and GroupM’s data-driven specialty businesses, including INCA, Finecast, Sightline, and Acceleration. For over a decade, he led the expansion of Xaxis – an A.I.-powered programmatic engine – into 16 markets and multiplied its revenue by 20-fold.

Saha shared that GroupM Nexus is a cross-channel performance-led organisation that unites its expertise in service excellence, AI technology and the most advanced solutions. 

“This is the future of marketing, and we are poised to offer our clients and agencies the most powerful performance engine that will accelerate their growth. I’m honoured to be working alongside some of the world’s best specialists at GroupM Nexus to collectively cultivate a better media ecosystem,” he added.

Meanwhile, as the new COO of GroupM Nexus APAC, Thurlow will be driving the transformation of Nexus alongside Saha. His new role is an additional appointment to his corporate remit as COO of GroupM APAC.

Thurlow is one of the region’s most accomplished practitioners across the breadth of the network’s business. He architected the consolidation of GroupM’s search, social, commerce, programmatic, and addressable practices in APAC, and for almost three years, he oversaw the complex integration of inter-network systems and structures across 16 markets into a unified campaign delivery platform.

Commenting on his appointment, Thurlow said, “I’m very excited about the launch of GroupM Nexus across the region. Building on the success of the past years, the expanded service and solutions offering that GroupM Nexus will create, represents a wonderful opportunity to deliver genuine market-leading innovation and produce a positive business impact for our clients.”

Moreover, Deepika Nikhilender, who is elevated from SVP to the CEO role at Xaxis APAC, has over two decades of marketing and data science experience. She steered Xaxis’ A.I. and machine-learning ambitions in the region while leading the design of marketing solutions, supply strategy, trading, and operations excellence, as well as ad-tech and platforms strategy.

Deepika commented, “I’m thrilled to embark on this exciting challenge to lead Xaxis APAC into new frontiers where we can break new ground for our clients and agencies with our A.I. differentiated initiatives and solutions. Together with the team, I look forward to cultivating a culture where our talents will continue to thrive as well as strengthening Xaxis’ capabilities to achieve our clients’ desired outcomes.”

Completing the Nexus APAC leadership line-up, Poole, who was formerly managing director of Finecast Australia, has been appointed the CEO of Finecast APAC and AUNZ. With over two decades of experience in product development, tech commercialisation, publishing, and advertising platforms, he has launched and built profitable businesses across native advertising (plista), data tech (mPLATFORM), programmatic trading (Xaxis), and most recently, spearheaded television transformation in Australia where his team grew the Finecast brand to become synonymous with addressable TV and TV innovation.

Poole noted, “I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to continue growing Finecast across APAC as part of GroupM Nexus. I look forward to working closely with Nexus APAC leaders to build on the outstanding work of our Finecast APAC team.”

South Korea – Xaxis, the outcome media specialist under GroupM, has elevated Ji Young Jung, its former programmatic trading lead, to be the new head of Xaxis South Korea.

Jung will be leading her team toward Xaxis’ vision of scaling up and optimising its performance and digital offerings across APAC. Her passion for developing the programmatic advertising landscape in South Korea centres around helping the country’s leading brands and advertisers navigate an evolving landscape, all the while bringing in ever-stronger results from their media investments.

Jung brings a hands-on experience of both the buy and sell sides of programmatic advertising and previously to Xaxis, spent several years at companies such as The Trade Desk and A1 Media Group. She will be taking over the role from Junsu Bae, who has been elevated to the position of head of digital investment at GroupM South Korea.

Commenting on her appointment, Jung said, “I’m excited for this next chapter in my journey with Xaxis. There are so many opportunities to grow the programmatic landscape in South Korea, and with our blend of innovative AI technology, cross-channel solutions and a wealth of programmatic expertise for our clients to tap into, we’re in a perfect position to lead this charge.”

Meanwhile, Michael Beecroft, GroupM’s CEO of Northeast Asia, said, “Ji Young is a pragmatic leader whose experience is backed up by a full range of hands-on experience in the programmatic advertising space. I’m looking forward to seeing how her wealth of industry knowledge inspires the team around her and drives continued success for the Xaxis South Korea team.”

Bae noted, “Since joining in 2019, Ji Young has created a remarkable imprint on the programmatic advertising industry in South Korea. She has shown time and again her ability to create successful business outcomes for Xaxis and our clients, and I’m delighted to be working alongside her when developing and launching future GroupM products in South Korea.”

Hong Kong – Xaxis, the outcome media specialist from GroupM, has announced that it has launched its first-ever programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) campaign at MTR’s advertising in Hong Kong. The campaign ran throughout Hong Kong for loan and financial services company United Asia Finance Limited.

The advertisements were shown in eight high traffic locations across 41 panels located within the MTR network in Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Admiralty, Central, Tsim Sha Shui, Mong Kok, and Prince Edward through exclusive access with the MTR Trackside Digital Motion Network.

The campaign featured three creative advertisements that utilised time targeting based on the operational hours of surrounding businesses while factoring in weekends and public holidays to ensure the best content with the right context is shown to the right audience. 

“With Xaxis’ programmatic expertise, United Asia Finance Limited was able to take flexible campaign planning to the next level and elevate its OOH advertisements, allowing it to dynamically define its station mix, panel mix, and audience type, and set messages to be delivered at the best time possible,” the company said in a press statement.

The pDOOH campaign will catapult MTR advertising into a new automated phase of OOH with programmatic. It will provide real-time flexibility for United Asia Finance Limited to curate a captive viewing environment by identifying the best time, audience, location and messages to create an effective, efficient, and brand safe channel for its campaigns.

Andy Chung, managing director of Xaxis in Hong Kong, said, “We’re thrilled to make history with MTR advertising and United Asia Finance Limited to launch the first pDOOH campaign at MTR and deliver dynamic content to Hong Kong commuters. Programmatic will bring about a whole new definition of digital creativity for advertisers and consumers alike, providing a non-intrusive avenue for passengers to engage in relevant and high value interactions with brands. It gives marketers much more flexibility such as time targeting, creative changes, or even triggering the ad with real time weather conditions or stock market index.”

Meanwhile, Shirley Chan, managing director at JCDecaux Transport, commented, “Utilising the reach of Hong Kong’s MTR network and the flexibility of programmatic, advertising campaigns are reaching and best resonating with the audience at any time or place. MTR advertising offers the largest coverage of DOOH in Hong Kong, and by having this level of precision, marketers can truly direct the most captivating creative advertisements to the largest audience. We are excited that UA Finance smartly integrates the flexibility of programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) into the MTR network with dynamic content capabilities to deliver tactical and contextual messaging, thus allowing its ad content to be optimised against specific data parameters to ensure the very best target audiences are reached.”

Lastly, Elvis Yan, chief marketing officer at United Asia Finance Limited, said, “We are eager to explore innovative and convenient ways to connect with our customers, and fascinated to learn that UA Finance is the first advertiser to tap into MTR advertising with pDOOH. It’s an exciting space for us to celebrate a new chapter of our innovative journey. Leveraging the powerful visual impact of OOH plus the new programmatic capabilities, this location-based marketing platform enables us to reach a large volume of on-the-go target audiences throughout the day, bringing big uplifts in impressions and efficiency.” 

He added, “At selected MTR locations, we adopt dynamic creative display technology to develop scenario-base ads to communicate our service offering. We strongly believe this innovative solution will be a popular trend for advertising in the new era. It perfectly complements our integrated marketing strategy, tapping into the holistic customer journey.”

Hong Kong – Global programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) adtech company Hivestack has been selected as programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) partner by a couple of global advertising and media companies including GroupM, Xaxis, Publicis, Havas and dentsu International Hong Kong.

Through these partnerships, Hong Kong-based advertisers will now be able to capitalize on the benefits of programmatic buying, activating against premium programmatic DOOH inventory through the Hivestack DSP via open exchange and Private Marketplace deals.

To date, programmatic DOOH is one of the fastest growing channels in Hong Kong and provides crucial opportunities for media buyers to plan and deliver contextualized, targeted and measurable campaigns at scale across premium DOOH inventory in the region.

Troy Yang, managing director for North Asia at Hivestack, said, “These partnerships are a testament to continued growth of programmatic DOOH opportunities across North Asia, we are delighted to have the opportunity to work with such influential leaders in media and advertising to pioneer programmatic DOOH in Hong Kong.”

Kenny Ip, head of investment for Hong Kong at GroupM, said, “It’s great to have partnered with Hivestack who continue to drive programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) in Hong Kong.”

Andy Chung, managing director at Xaxis and INCA, said, “We are pleased to recognize that Hivestack is the pioneer and specialist in this area, capable of advanced solutions & features. We look forward to working with Hivestack and bringing these benefits to our GroupM clients.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Cawte, managing director at Havas Media Hong Kong, commented, “Thanks to our partnership with Hivestack, we at last have the opportunity in Hong Kong to buy premium programmatic DOOH inventory, at scale. This is game changing for advertisers here.”

Hivestack has seen significant growth in 2021 following several global expansions including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan earlier this year, most recently onboarding new premium supply side partnerships in Hong Kong.

Tammii Pang, head of PMX at Publicis Media Hong Kong, said, “This is an incredibly exciting time for the DOOH market in Hong Kong. We look forward to collaborating with our new partners at Hivestack to leverage their market leading programmatic technology and offer our clients a way to precisely engage audiences outside of the home.”

Meanwhile, Anna Chan, CEO of Media LoB, dentsu International Hong Kong, commented, “As an integrated solutions provider, we are glad to partner with Hivestack to offer a more seamless and innovative consumer journey for our clients, as DOOH is becoming an increasingly vital media touch point.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – GroupM’s outcome media company Xaxis in Malaysia has announced the promotion of its former Associate Director for Engagement Pamela Ooi to now become its new director of programmatic strategy and insights.

In her new role, Ooi shared in an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, that she will be responsible for the strategic growth of programmatic teams’ development in Xaxis Malaysia, as well as playing an important role in the company’s new business and key client relationships.

She further shared with MARKETECH APAC, “The focus for Xaxis in 2022 will still be client-focused and crafting programmatic strategies to deliver against client’s business goals. There are several pillars that I will be working on (Client, Agency, Internal, Industry) which encompasses foundation building for clients’ own first party data, moving towards a cookie-less future and working across the GroupM agencies to provide strategic leadership across programmatic in delivering first class and innovative solutions.” 

She will remain based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and will be working with Xaxis Regional counterparts in Singapore on regional clients. She will be reporting to Aravind Menon, managing director at Xaxis Malaysia, who also holds the same position for GroupM’s influencer marketing arm INCA in Malaysia.

“I am excited to take on a newly created role in Xaxis Malaysia as director, programmatic strategy and insights to drive programmatic adoption across GroupM clients. I look forward to working closely with clients and agencies to scale programmatic to even greater heights and to deliver value for our clients,” Ooi stated regarding her appointment.

Speaking about her past experiences at Xaxis, she shared that a lot has changed since her official entry into the company back in 2017 as a senior manager for engagement, saying that in her continuing four years of journey, the company continues to roll out new features and solutions, be it new ways of working or new standards of brand asset valuator (BAV).

Ooi explains, “To be a leader in this company, I learnt that you always have to stick to your intuition and speak out if you have something to say. The culture here is so inclusive and I feel at home in Xaxis. Challenges are always bound to come about, so the most important trait to have is resilience to overcome. I have learned that being in the forefront of the industry is not an easy feat and Xaxis and GroupM are the ones paving the way in the industry setting an example for all to follow,” 

When asked about her insights regarding the challenges in the programmatic media industry, Ooi noted that while programmatic adoption has been on the rise since 2018, she notes that we are still in the emerging phase where there is so muchgrowth to uncover. 

She further added that not all brands or advertisers are fully on-board with programmatic, as the level of understanding of how it works correlates with the comfort level with the data, technology, and platforms that comes into the mix.

“Aside from the mental barrier, there are also physical barriers like onboarding technology and data platforms, digital talents as well as investments that [go] into running programmatic. What we do in Xaxis is to simplify clients’ life in running programmatic media by having an all inclusive model thus eliminating all the silos that you see in adtech. I am hopeful that programmatic will continue to grow as all digital will soon be programmatic,” said Ooi.

Singapore – As part of the company’s stride to achieve full potential of digital media transformation, WPP’s media investment group GroupM has expanded the role of Arshan Saha, CEO for APAC at programmatic Xaxis, to the new role of APAC CEO for Xaxis & Specialty Businesses.

In his newest role, he will be handling as well the regional businesses of GroupM’s data-driven specialty businesses including programmatic offering Xaxis, influencer marketing service INCA, addressable TV offering Finecast, addressable out-of-home (OOH) offering Sightline, and data and technology consultancy practice Acceleration.

The consolidation of leadership for all data-driven specialty businesses for APAC will ensure GroupM’s continued future ready innovation and growth. Saha brings his experience in growing and scaling Xaxis across the region to further strengthen GroupM’s data and technology suite of products.

Furthermore, GroupM believes that the expanded role lines well with the current state of digital media, which at the moment is fast-evolving and adoption is accelerating, resulting in continued fragmentation across channels and audiences. They add that innovation is key to leveraging this opportunity, and this has taken the form of specialty businesses across various addressable channels.

“My journey at Xaxis has provided me with the perfect platform to succeed in this role. I am excited to embark on this new challenge, leading a high-growth portfolio of specialty businesses for GroupM in channels that are of high demand from our clients. This consolidation will empower our clients to make media work harder for them, while allowing them to easily access GroupM’s digital expertise as a single unit,” Saha said, regarding the expanded role.

Meanwhile, Ashutosh Srivastava, APAC CEO at GroupM, commented, “As part of GroupM’s overall global strategy for growth, we have been investing in launching and growing several data-driven specialty businesses in the region. Apart from Xaxis, we have fast-growing businesses in INCA and Finecast, and are on the verge of launching addressable OOH and Data & Tech consulting.” 

He added, “Arshan has shown great product and commercial acumen in growing Xaxis, and we are confident of his success in scaling our performance and digital product offerings across Asia-Pacific.”

Tokyo, Japan – GroupM’s outcome media specialist company Xaxis has appointed Leanne Bowles as the new general manager for Xaxis Japan, where she will drive the growth of programmatic advertising in a highly-wired Japanese market while managing the agency’s relationship with its growing pool of clients.

She brings ten years of experience within the GroupM network, including over four years with Xaxis Asia Pacific before moving to Mindshare China where she held the position of partner for investment strategy for over three years, creating, delivering, and executing proprietary solutions to drive value for her clients.

Prior to her appointment, Bowles previously led the Mindshare Balance Champions initiative in China to raise awareness and support colleagues on their well-being journey. She will leverage her experience in Mindshare’s DEI (Diversion Equality Inclusion) Council to further drive Xaxis’ initiatives and instill a value-driven organization that celebrates diversity.

She will report to Arshan Saha, CEO for Xaxis Asia-Pacific and Michael Beecroft, CEO at Xaxis Northeast Asia.

“I’m incredibly excited to be returning to the Xaxis family, and am looking forward to working together with Arshan Saha and Michael Beecroft once again. . In an era where leaders need to take charge and foster a culture of work-life balance, diversity and inclusion. I’m honored to have the opportunity to drive this in my role in Japan,” Bowles said, regarding her appointment.

Saha, meanwhile, said that Leanne is incredibly talented and that they are thrilled to have her back at Xaxis. He added that Bowles’ experience in growing teams and delivering outcomes for clients, combined with Xaxis’ AI in programmatic and creativity, will bring incredible value to the company’s operations in Japan.

Beecroft added, “Leanne has proved herself as an invaluable member of the GroupM family, whether in Xaxis or Mindshare. Her knowledge and diverse experiences from across the GroupM network will empower her for this role as General Manager at Xaxis Japan. Importantly, Leanne is also extremely passionate about championing female leaders, and inspiring people like her will truly make a difference in our industry.”

Singapore – GroupM’s outcome-driven media company Xaxis has recently appointed Silvia Sparry as the company’s newest chief operating officer, following the company’s celebration of 10 years in operation.

Prior to her new position, she has served as Xaxis’ vice president of global operations and platforms.

In her new role, Sparry will help translate how differentiating capabilities such as Xaxis’ proprietary AI platform Copilot or GroupM Choreograph can be consistently leveraged by clients to deliver better outcomes from their digital media investments.

In addition, Sparry will lead Xaxis’ global operations and will focus on accelerating Xaxis’ journey to become an artificial intelligence (AI) and data science first company. Responsible for technology platforms, partnerships, operations and process excellence, Sparry will work to maximise synergies across Xaxis’ 47 markets, as well as across the wider group, including GroupM and WPP.

“I’m excited to take on my new responsibilities at Xaxis at such a momentous time of change. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Nicolas and the talented Xaxis teams around the world to further transform the business into an AI and data first company, that equips its people with the capabilities and know-how to deliver the very best outcomes for our clients over the next decade and long into the future,” she said, regarding her appointment.

She will report to Nicolas Bidon, global CEO at Xaxis, who commented that Sparry has a proven track record of driving transformative initiatives, adding that they could not think of anyone better to help the company continue their 10-year journey of innovation and growth.

“As programmatic advertising continues to conquer new channels like audio, TV or out of home, marketers are looking for globally scaled specialists that can help them accelerate their own digital transformation and growth. To help our clients seize the opportunities presented by this ever changing and complex ecosystem, it is more important than ever for Xaxis to have a strong global operational leader who can drive operational excellence and innovation across the globe,” Bidon stated.

Xaxis’s presence in Asia has been evident, with the recent appointment of Aravind Menon as managing director of Xaxis in Malaysia, as well as working with Singapore-based proptech Really for programmatic advertising.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Both the Malaysian arm of GroupM’s outcome media specialist Xaxis and its influencer marketing solution INCA are now under the same managing director, Aravind Menon, where he will lead Xaxis‘ and INCA Malaysia’s strategy and operations.

Menon will be responsible as well in spearheading future digital development as well as client transformational initiatives and mentoring new talent. In addition, he will leverage his experience at GroupM to further advance Xaxis’ innovative programmatic solutions, including digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising and proprietary Artificial Intelligence technology.

He has previously held the position of head of supply and product development in GroupM’s Trading Team, where he led the group’s digital investment strategy across key partners and created high value supply and trading strategies for clients. He also became the secretary of the Malaysian Digital Association, a council representing Malaysian corporations including digital publishers, platforms, advertising agencies, creative agencies, and digital service providers, back in 2020.

Reflecting on his appointment, Aravind said, “I am excited to grow Xaxis and INCA’s business in Malaysia. The agencies have been producing some of the most exciting programmatic and influencer marketing solutions for years now and there is clearly phenomenal room for growth in the Malaysian market. I look forward to building and scaling the agencies to even greater heights and delivering exception value for our clients.”

He will be reporting into both Arshan Saha, CEO at Xaxis Asia-Pacific, as well as Chanchal Chakrabarty, CEO at GroupM Malaysia.

Saha commented that Menon has a track record of fostering, collaborating, and championing their integrated approach in transforming digital media into business outcomes, which is a timely opportunity for the companies he will be directing, as the industry has seen unprecedented change since last year.

“His deep expertise combined with our cutting-edge AI in programmatic and creativity will bring incredible value to our operations in Malaysia. I am thrilled to welcome him into his new role in leading Xaxis and INCA for Malaysia,” Saha stated.

Meanwhile, Chakrabarty commented, “Xaxis represents the silver bullet in AI and programmatic, and the Malaysian market is ripe with opportunity to target audiences digitally. I have great confidence that Aravind’s leadership will further elevate our team towards our global goal of making advertising work better for people. His experience in developing and delivering innovative and scalable media partnerships will help us spearhead the advertising revolution and contribute to the overall growth and success of GroupM Malaysia.”

Singapore – Xaxis, the programmatic unit of media investment company GroupM, has announced a new partnership with Singapore-based proptech Really Singapore, as Xaxis extends its programmatic DOOH (Digital-Out-of-Home) network in Singapore, particularly among the prized audience segment of affluent consumers.

The Premium Audience Advertising Network features Really’s ‘eScreens,’ a network of digital notice boards installed in high-traffic locations across a growing number of condominiums throughout Singapore. As work-from-home (WFH) protocols become the new normal for many Singapore residents, Really’s ‘eScreens’ are presenting advertisers with new opportunities to engage the island’s high-income working professionals.

Joerg Zeugner, CEO at Really Singapore, said, “We are excited to collaborate with GroupM and Xaxis, two digital-forward entities owned by the world’s largest advertising company, WPP. This is where the best in PropTech meets the best in AdTech – a strategic alliance that opens up for brand owners the opportunity to effectively engage a valued audience segment living within premium, gated, and exclusive communities.”

Through the ‘eScreens’, property managers will now have the ability to distribute real-time updates for the benefit of their residents at any time, from anywhere. For brand owners and advertisers, these screens give access to a captive and recurring audience, with their content appearing alongside important updates, local news, and affairs of the estate. 

Felicia Poon, head of investment at GroupM Singapore, commented that as people continue to work from home, they see the partnership as a great opportunity to contextually and smartly engage them. 

“Really’s platform and technology will enable our agencies to enhance the value of our DOOH offering across condominiums in Singapore, cementing our position as the leading media company,” Poon stated.

Meanwhile, Josh Quek, managing director at Xaxis Singapore, said that the partnership roots from the past digital evolution of the past 12 months, which has introduced new ways of reaching audiences, in line with rapidly changing consumer behaviours. 

“Through this partnership with Really, we are pleased to be able to offer brands the opportunity to reach residents within the grounds of their condo. Delivering DOOH campaigns programmatically allows us to address concerns brands may have regarding measurability, proving that DOOH advertising truly is the future,” Quek stated.