Mindshare APAC appoints chief investment officer

WPP’s media agency Mindshare has appointed Jacob Kvist (pictured) to the role of chief investment officer. Kvist was last CEO for GroupM Vietnam, which is a role that Ed Thesiger will take over in addition to his current role as CEO of GroupM Indonesia.In his role, Kvist will drive Mindshare’s trading and investment strategy for the region. Kvist will be working closely with Mindshare and GroupM trading teams in all local markets to ensure the agency provides clients with unrivaled access to quality local inventory, tools and data as the markets increasingly moves to biddable and programmatic trading models.Kvist will work with regional media, data and tech partners to ensure Mindshare’s multi-local trading strategies are combined with the best and most relevant regional and global offerings as well. Kvist will further head up the accountability teams ensuring Mindshare continues its track record of always delivering in full the trading and pricing commitments they make to their clients.Kvist will also be responsible for driving the supply side of Mindshare's adaptive marketing proposition, which includes the establishment of the newly developed performance marketing FAST Hubs.Kvist has headed up GroupM Vietnam since 2013 and in that short time transformed both the GroupM and Mindshare proposition into one of the most successful markets in APAC. During Kvist’s time with GroupM Vietnam he saw the teams double to over 350 people, while adding to an already impressive portfolio of blue chip clients and successfully integrating Click (a local content and conversation digital agency of 70+ people).Kvist said:“Mindshare more than any agency has proven itself consistently as a worthy market leader in Asia, and I’m thrilled to take on the challenge of transforming its market leading position of trading and value creation into a model that will see Mindshare adding further competitive advantage in the increasingly adaptive, data lead and automated world of media.”Kvist takes over from Adam Marshall, who left the agency in July of last year.Meanwhile, Thesiger has been tasked with taking the business to the next level. His initial focus for the increasingly digitally focused market will be leveraging the growing demand for a programmatic offering, driving further operational efficiency and ensuring the agency’s talent is fully equipped to navigate the increasingly complex media landscape.Mark Patterson, CEO GroupM APAC said: “Kvist and Thesiger are both high calibre leaders eager and very capable to take on and embrace their respective new challenges and perform to the highest level. It’s a major advantage for our clients and people to be able to make these sort of talent movements within the organisation.”