Omnicom China announces new CIO

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) China has announced the appointment of Gavin Hu as chief investment officer – trading and partnerships, effective from June 1, 2017.In this role, Hu will be tasked with leading the media investment and trading community at OMG, and forge closer partnerships with key media, particularly Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.With 17 years of digital experience, Hu was one of the pioneers working in the digital space in Shanghai. Hu joins from VIVA Media Group where he was CMO and successfully helped to build the company from scratch to their recent IPO listing. Prior to this, he was the co digital head at JWT China, working with brands such as Ford, Nike, Yum, and Anta. Before joining JWT he was at Nurun.Doug Pearce, Omnicom Media Group, Greater China CEO, said the agency has been looking to find the next generation trading and investment lead for some time - someone with a digital focus and the ability to interact at the most senior level with the media partners. "Our landscape has completely changed; it is now much more dynamic and all-encompassing with investment across data, inventory, content, analytics and ecommerce. Gavin has the perfect background and understanding of our needs to drive change in this area to maximize available opportunities, create new models and to deliver competitive advantage for our clients," he said.Tony Harradine, chief investment officer at Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific added, "We are delighted to be appointing somebody of Gavin’s calibre and capability to lead our investment product across China. His leadership and vision will continue to drive the necessary momentum we strive for, to ensure our investment product remains at the forefront of one of our most significant and innovative markets."Commenting on his appointment, Gavin Hu said he looks forward to creating more value for clients and building closer relationships with media partners.Gavin will lead all investment and trading teams at Omnicom Media Group and will be supported by Tommy Li, who was recently promoted to the position of managing director, trading and investment.