• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 6, 2010

Kinetic Worldwide, the out-of-home media colossus owned by WPP's GroupM division, has its eye on the future, and has created a new unit to focus on it. Dubbed Kinetic Futures, the new unit will be headed by Jeremy O'Brien, who will serve as managing director and global futurist.

While media futurists were de rigueur in agency media departments in the days before the Internet, and the explosive expansion of digital media options, the term and title have fallen by the wayside in recent years and have been seen as passé. But with digital media transforming out-of-home media so rapidly, and literally redefining how consumers interact with brands in out-of-home and public places, the role seems like a prudent play for the world's largest out-of-home media services organization.

GroupM described Kinetic Futures as a "think tank" that will focus on "the impact of changing consumer behavior, increasingly ubiquitous technology, and proliferating data on the future of communications and commerce."

Prior to his new role, O'Brien was director of research and marketing for Kinetic's North American operations.

"I am passionately interested in evidence-based marketing and data-driven decision making," O'Brien states on his current LinkedIn profile.