Dentsu Aegis Network's Stuart McLennan joins Rakuten Advertising

Rakuten Advertising has named Stuart McLennan to the newly created position of senior VP of Asia Pacific. McLennan (pictured) will be responsible for leading the business across the Asia Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand. Reporting to MD of international, Anthony Capano, this role is part of the international leadership team.

Prior to Rakuten Advertising, McLennan was most recently the Asia Pacific media and performance lead at Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) and spent close to a decade with the network in the UK and across Asia in senior management positions. According to his LinkedIn, he also worked at Tamar and Northumberland Tourism. 

According to McLennan, the chance to lead Rakuten Advertising was "an exceptional opportunity". “Leading the Asia Pacific team is a superb chance to build upon the incredible foundations laid by the team across the region by doing what I love most: leadership and development, client relationship building and business growth," he added.

Meanwhile, Capano said McLennan is an exceptional leader, something demonstrated admirably by his global success within the industry. “Rakuten Advertising continues to see exceptional growth across the APAC region, based on a combination of our unique assets and outstanding team. Hiring someone of McLennan’s calibre at this time is a great demonstration of our desire to continue this momentum, and focus on delivering growth for our customers,” he said. Separately, DAN's spokesperson told Marketing that there are no plans to replace McLennan's role.

The appointment comes after the company's expansion and rebrand in February. The new company brought together Rakuten Marketing's expansive affiliate network, programmatic retargeting and prospecting technology with consumer insights from Rakuten Intelligence, and a unique set of global media properties. This allows brands to discover rich audiences and build enduring relationships including Rakuten TV, Rakuten Viber, Rakuten Viki and Rakuten France.

CEO Nick Stamos said previously that bringing together Rakuten's each and engagement capabilities marks an important step forward in the marketing and advertising capabilities it can deliver to its clients and partners worldwide.