WPP’s programmatic agency Xaxis on Thursday said
it named Bob Walczak EVP, global products, a newly created position. Walczak previously served as global CEO of Light Reaction, a performance advertising business that’s part of Xaxis.
In his new role, Walczak will lead a new team, including product management, global partnerships, and supply, to develop media solutions that use Xaxis’ data, technology, and supply
assets to deliver measurable results to brands. A new global products unit will work across Xaxis and its specialist brands, Triad Retail Media, Light Reaction, and plista.
Walczak
will also coordinate Xaxis’ Global Products team efforts with GroupM’s [m]PLATFORM to take advantage of [m]PLATFORM’s scale and resources.
The goal of the Global Products
team is to build product offerings at a global scale, Walczak told Real-Time Daily via email. "As we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of our current offerings, we’ll look to expand
upon our core strengths, and resolve product gaps. Xaxis' [m]Platform and its capabilities across data, identity, and analytics will serve as foundational elements on which Xaxis and its
brands will build product offerings," he said.
"Global scale will be a critical element of our focus, ensuring we deliver repeatable capabilities across regions and markets. By focusing
our efforts on differentiation and working with partners to deliver capabilities in areas we see as commoditized, we’ll be able to increase our speed to market and the value we deliver to
marketers," Walczak said.
Further, Xaxis will focus on "curated publisher relationships that offer unique, differentiated, and scaled supply that meets our stringent standards of viewability
and fraud-free impressions."
“Bob has built Light Reaction into a powerful offering for Xaxis, enabling advertisers to drive real outcomes such as sales, subscriptions and other
meaningful customer engagement with limited upfront risk,” stated Xaxis global president Nicolas Bidon. “His experience launching and scaling world-class media solutions makes him an
ideal choice to head the global products team.”
Earlier in his career, Walczak was founder and CEO of ad tech start-up Ringleader Digital, which developed a mobile ad-serving
technology platform. He was also an executive at PubMatic.