WPP Out-of-Home network Kinetic Worldwide this morning announced a major restructuring of its global organization, affecting most key markets. The move, which follows the recent
appointment of Mauricio Sabogal as Global CEO, is part of his plan to “move out-of-home to the center of strategic planning” among the agency and marketer organizations Kinetic works
with.
“I am totally sure with these changes we will speed up this process,” Sabogal said in a statement announcing the reorganization, which includes dividing Europe into
three-sub regions: Western Europe (U.K., Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal), Benelux & Nordics (Netherlands, Belgium and a future expansion into Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway), and Central
Europe (Germany, Italy, Switzerland and future expansion to Austria, Poland and Greece).
Stuart Taylor (current U.K. CEO) will manage Western Europe, Dennis Kuperus (current
Netherlands CEO) will manage Benelux & Nordics, and Thorsten Ebbing (current Germany CEO) will manage Central Europe.
In a related move, David Payne has been named CEO of World
Markets from Chief Development Officer of Kinetic Worldwide, with a focus on Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, MENA, Russia, Japan, Korea and Australia.
Alex Thompson, head of business development,
meanwhile, has been named global head of Aviator Worldwide, Kinetic’s specialized unit aimed at travellers. He will also be responsible for Kinetic’s global relationship with WPP’s
GroupM unit.