China's eastern and southern regions will be managed by Andrew Meaden, who was until recently chief executive officer of MindShare Japan. Meaden, who joined MindShare Japan in 2000, will manage offices in Shanghai, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shenzhen as well as Chengdu, when it comes on stream early next year.
The northern and western markets of Beijing, Chongqing and the soon-to-open Tianjin office will fall under the remit of Rob Hughes, previously the Beijing office MD.
MindShare's North Asia CEO Mark Patterson pointed to healthy business and headcount growth over the past 18 months for putting the new management structure in place. "We didn't fill the Shanghai role after Bessie (Lee, China CEO) moved to a national role 18 months ago, but in that time the business has grown significantly and staff numbers have increased by 50 per cent," said Patterson.
As in India, Taiwan and Indonesia, WPP's media network will move to a Group M structure by early next year, with Patterson saying that a series of high profile incremental senior management investments into China would be announced shortly.
