• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 3, 2013

Mindshare has appointed mobile industry veteran Jeff Malmad as mobile leader, a new position that signals the agency’s continuing effort to ramp up its mobile practice.

In his new role, Malmad will be responsible for further integrating mobile into the overall planning and activation process for clients. He will report to John Montgomery, chief operating officer of GroupM Interaction North America, who is currently also serving as Mindshare’s Interim head of digital. (In the Mindshare role he’s filling in for Scott Sorokin who left the agency earlier this year.)

Mobile is a growing practice for many shops as consumers increasingly are using mobile devices for everyday chores, such as shopping, research and navigation. In an interview last year with Media Daily News, Mindshare North America CEO Antony Young said he believed society was headed toward a “mobile dominated media world,” where tablets would supplant PCs for many consumer tasks.

Malmad joins the agency from mobile agency Joule, also owned by WPP. Most recently, he served as group account director at Joule, where he led a number of key accounts, including Dell, Shell, Allergan, H&M and major Mindshare client Unilever. Before that, Malmad spent a dozen years in various roles at MediaCom Interaction, like Mindshare, part of WPP's GroupM.

Young cited Malmad’s “blend of mobile expertise and GroupM experience that will enable him to effortlessly integrate into Mindshare and quickly create value for clients.”

"The opportunity to seamlessly infuse mobility into overall marketing programs is upon us. Just like the Internet transformed business and society, mobility is doing the same but at a faster pace," stated Malmad.