Former OMD Europe MD Steve Blakeman joins Mindshare as Nestle lead

Former OMD Europe managing director – global accounts Steve Blakeman (pictured) has joined Mindshare as the global media lead for the Nestlé account. According to his LinkedIn, he will be based in London.In his last role as MD – global accounts at OMD Europe, Blakeman was overseeing the global Renault Groupe account. Prior to that, he was the APAC CEO at OMD for over four years. In his time at OMD, former Omnicom Media Group APAC CEO Cheuk Chiang said Blakeman has driven four years of continued success for OMD on all fronts – growth, thought leadership and creativity.Blakeman brings with him over two decades of experience in the media field, while also pursuing as a writer. He began his career with JWT in 1987 as a senior planner for three years and moved to a UK-based communications agency Brahm as a media director.Blakeman the joined IPG Mediabrands as the global chief integration strategy officer (APAC). He worked at both Initiative and Universal McCann between 2006 to 2011. Some of his other stints were with agencies PHD for a period of four years. Blakeman has worked across clients including J&J, Unilever, Coca Cola and Visa.“I began my career at WPP and I am thrilled to re-join the family. I am doubly delighted to be working with such a prestigious client as Nestlé and its globally iconic brands,” Blakeman said. Blakeman will be replacing Simon Mathews, who is moving to lead WPP Team Kimberly-Clark.Nick Emery, global CEO Mindshare, said the team is “delighted” to have Blakeman join the group, and that he combines great global experience with a desire to constantly reinvent media and marketing.While Mindshare holds the account for Nestlé in London, Zenith and Publicis One took on the media duties in Singapore and Malaysia respectively. Prior to the review first called in June last year, Mindshare had held the business for around two decades.