Not so Soon: Iris deal is off

• XM's Paul Soon decides to stay on
• Soon had previously agreed to join iris
• Iris to continue search for digital head
  

Singapore - Iris' attempt to hire XM Asia Pacific's managing director Paul Soon have been scuppered by WPP, resulting in him now remaining at XM despite previously agreeing to join iris in May.

Soon was lined up to take the role of managing director for iris' digital operation across the Asia Pacific region. He was due to start in May to help launch ‘iris Digital' across its regional offices in India, Singapore and Australia as well as into new markets like Beijing.

"We're an agency that attracts entrepreneurial talent who seek to harness this tipping point that we're seeing in the industry right now. As one of the fastest growing independents we're quickly establishing ourselves as the new way to be a global marketing agency, which is a far cry from the traditional networks," Richard Bleasdale, iris' regional CEO for Asia Pacific, said.

"Paul is a great talent and we're not surprised WPP wants to hold onto him. We understand his decision to stay and wish him the best of luck."