He replaces Mike Cooper, who will move to the UK as chief executive of PHD Worldwide after a decade in the regional role.
Cupples, the former chief executive officer of OMD Central and Eastern Europe, launched the Omnicom media agency in Romania and Slovenia. Under his guard, Omnicom Media Group held the number one growth position across Eastern Europe for more than 10 years.
“The network here is successful and has a strong brand position in the market,” Cupples told Media on a recent visit to the region. “At the same time, I’m coming from Eastern Europe, where we held the number one growth position in all markets."
"But, personally, it’s exciting to be number two; I’m a competitive individual. I want to build our holistic offering by strengthening content, search and digital capabilities.”
Cupples started his career at Grey London in 1987 before joining independent media house AMS.
He left his position as board director at AMS after five years to join DDB and set up its media operation in Hungary as MD. Six years later, he left what had become one of OMD’s most successful operations to develop a programming company along with OMD Europe and Kirch Media. In 2001, Cupples returned to OMD Central and Eastern Europe.
His appointment comes as the 10-year-old network initiates an aggressive talent acquisition drive on the back of its regional Johnson & Johnson win. “Talent is an issue as we strengthen skill sets with J&J,” he noted.
Cupples, who will be based in Singapore, described his management style as “frank and open”, adding: “I don’t believe you can have have a successful relationship doing the job unless you have trust. Adapting my management style to fit in with Asia will be a challenge.”
