New GroupM leadership

On his exit from the industry, Steedman urged media agencies not to undervalue their business and give it away at “ludicrous” commissions fees.

“The clients are taking advantage of it and are screwing the agencies accordingly,” he said. “Media agency managements need to know when to say no and push back on clients. Until they do the margins will be slim and they won’t have the funds to buy the talent and deliver outstanding product and continue to lead the communication process. Buying the business is such a short-term and short sighted business decision.”

At the age of 54, Steedman, or Steady, will retire after 38 years in the business - 18 of which he spent running the region in a senior post at WPP. He will remain in a consulting role for a year after which he intends to pursue personal business interests, such as property.

Patterson, who has spent almost eight years at WPP, commented: “For our business and our industry in the region, [Steedman] has been an ego free, inspirational, no nonsense leader who has been the architect in the last 10 years of MindShare and subsequently GroupM’s unsurpassed success in Asia-Pacific.”

Patterson’s appointment comes at a time of change for GroupM’s agencies as MindShare gets to grip with its new structure and Maxus awaits the appointment of a new regional head.

He noted that his key challenges would revolve around talent - recruitment, retention, development, career management and reward.