IPG Mediabrands names Arun Kumar as first chief data and marketing technology officer
IPG Mediabrands have named Arun Kumar as the group’s first chief data and marketing officer.
Arun Kumar named as IPG Mediabrands' first chief data and marketing technology officer
This will be in addition to his current role as global president of Cadreon, IPG’s programmatic technology arm. In this new role, Kumar will manage the global operations of Cadreon, as well as oversee Mediabrands insights and technology divisions.
The group reporting to Kumar will now be responsible for all data-driven solutions and analytics infrastructure within Mediabrands to support the IPG network. Kumar will report to Philippe Krakowsky, chairman of IPG Mediabrands and chief strategy officer of IPG.
“We’ve previously stated that Mediabrands is the place where we will further invest behind our already considerable data and analytics capabilities, so as to develop a data stack and platform that can serve all of our agencies,” said Michael Roth, chairman and chief executive officer of Interpublic.
“Given the tremendous progress Arun and his teams at Cadreon have made in recent years, and his exceptional knowledge of the data and technology space, we’re excited to have him take on this important new role. By partnering him with Philippe, whose technical strength is matched by his breath of knowledge about the industry and deep connections throughout the entire IPG portfolio, we believe that we can significantly advance our efforts to bring greater accountability to all of the solutions we deliver on behalf of our clients,” Roth added.
“I am excited about the opportunity to take our data and analytics capabilities and tools to a new level. Working closely and collaboratively with the management teams and client leaders at Initiative and UM, I am confident that we can keep Mediabrands at the leading edge as relates to strategy, investment and activation decisions that are fully informed by data." said Kumar.
"As the lines between media, technology and marketing continue to converge, our clients will expect us to be at the forefront when it comes to our data and analytics offerings. With IPG’s uniquely balanced offering – which includes substantial global scale in media,coupled with a wide range of the industry’s most awarded agencies – we can ultimately approach data in ways that inform our media activity, underlie our integrated marketing programs, and support our creative insights and storytelling colleagues in all communications disciplines,” he added.
This appointment comes after IPG put Google on notice to fix brand safety issues, as well as a strong quarterly result for 4Q16.