Omnicom restructures as Birkin departs

OMNICOM   PEOPLE   ADVERTISING

Regional - Omnicom Group has tweaked its Asia Pacific leadership team following the departure of vice chairman and Asia Pacific chairman & CEO Michael Birkin (pictured).

Birkin, who leaves to take a majority interest in US-based marketing services company RPMC, will be succeeded by Omnicom's vice chairman Tim Love, who takes on the role of CEO of Omnicom's Asia Pacific India Middle East Africa (APIMA) from 1 July.

At the same time, Serge Dumont has been promoted to president of Omnicom APIMA and Asia Pacific chairman.

For the past four years Birkin has led Omnicom's operations across Asia, he said he leaves the group in fantastic shape 

"My task was to deepen the management experience, I've done that and Tim is ideally suited to take it from here," he said.

He stressed his departure was in no way a reflection of the tough state of the advertising business today.

"It has absolutely nothing to do with the performance of Omnicom. Omnicom is in fine shape and we have put our brands on a new platform."

Birkin added that his Asian experience, which spans some 20 years, will be invaluable in building up RPMC. 

He said "without a shadow of doubt" the company will maintain strong links to Asia Pacific. 

John Wren, Omnicom president & CEO, said he was "delighted" to have Love on board to identify opportunities in this region and help clients "maximize opportunities in global marketing".

"The growth potential of the markets in this expanded region is significant," Wren said via a statement.

"However the complexity of managing effective marketing programs when there are such diverse economic, retail and media realities within any one of them, let alone across them, can be challenging,"

An Omnicom spokesman said Japan-based Birkin will leave his role next month. It is not yet clear where US-based Love will be located in Asia.

Prior to becoming vice-chairman of Omnicom in 2006, Love was president of global clients at Omnicom network TBWA Worldwide. Before TBWA he was vice-chairman Saatchi & Saatchi International.

Birkin said he was "delighted" with the progress Omnicom has made in Asia. "We have seen excellent growth in the past few years," he said.

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