Stewart declined to comment on the development, which comes after he lost his role as marketing director for Motorola’s high-growth markets division. This followed the decision to disband the structure in favour of one based on traditional geographies earlier this year (Media, 22 February). He is expected to assume a senior holding company role at STW, which houses the likes of Singleton Ogilvy & Mather and JWT and is minority-owned by WPP. “Increasingly, the market is asking what value does STW bring over and above being a large group of agencies,” said a source. “It has 61 companies in the group, but is increasingly being asked if it can put together a team to service client business in an integrated fashion.”
Stewart’s shift comes as WPP increases its minority stake in STW from 6.9 to 14.5 per cent since March, sparking speculation that the 19.9 per cent takeover threshhold will be reached within the year. WPP and STW have increased efforts to work together, including collaborating on a pitch for New Zealand’s Vodafone account.
Meanwhile, barely six months after its last restructuring, Moto has decided to divide the Asia-Pacific region again, in a move that sees regional chief Michael Tatelman return to the US. Instead, Mark Shockley assumes responsibility for the new East Asia grouping of Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. China becomes its own region, under the oversight of current market chief Ray Yam, while Malcolm Dawe takes charge of a new area comprising India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
The restructuring is not expected to affect the role of Motorola Asia-Pacific VP and GM of marketing Ian Chapman-Banks, although he is set to relocate from Beijing to Hong Kong in an unconnected development.
The restructuring is reportedly being driven by Moto global sales SVP Ray Roman, who recently took on responsibility for mobile devices following the departure of EVP and mobile devices president Ron Garriques.
