• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 2, 2017

WPP’s tenthavenue unit has installed new management at out-of-home agency Kinetic.  Mauricio Sabogal is out as CEO. He’s been replaced by GroupM veteran Marc-Antoine De Roys.

Sabogal is leaving to pursue other interests. That’s corporate speak for he’s out.

De Roys is a 18-year veteran of WPP. Most recently he was CFO at tenthavenue, a post he’s held since 2010. Tenthavenue is a specialist outfit that bills itself as catering to the “connected consumer.”  It’s operating units include a collection of OOH, mobile and shopper marketing firms including Kinetic, Joule, Candyspace, Spafax, Forward, Shopper2Buyer and TMARC.

Before joining tenthavenue, de Roys was COO of GroupM’s EMEA search and performance marketing operation. Earlier he was COO/CFO at GroupM France.

Sobogal had been CEO at Kinetic since mid-2014. Previously he was the global head of Interpublic media agency BPN, which has since been reorganized and is now a part of Initiative.

Sabogal joined Interpublic Group’s Initiative in 2009 in the then-new role of worldwide managing director. In 2012 when IPG launched BPN as a third media agency brand, Sabogal was tapped as global CEO. Just prior to stepping into the BPN role he had been president of world markets for IPG Mediabrands. He initially joined IPG from the Omnicom Media Group. 

Here’s what tenthavenue CEO Rupert Day had to say about the shakeup: “Marc-Antoine has been involved with Kinetic since the launch of tenthavenue in 2011, and he will continue to build upon the work already done at Kinetic by bringing additional insights into how data and technology can further power OOH, and how it builds efficiencies around operations.”

Day gave a tip of the hat to Sobogal, adding, “We collectively thank Mauricio for all his efforts in successfully moving Kinetic on its journey from a buyer of traditional OOH; to the development of audience-led planning tools, as well as digital, experiential solutions across both OOH and mobile.”

And so it’s on to the next chapter at Kinetic.