GroupM HK CEO and Mindshare HK managing director to depart

GroupM's Hong Kong CEO Alice Chow (pictured left) and Mindshare's managing director for Hong Kong Irene Tsui (pictured right) are departing, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE understands. 

It is understood that this is part of GroupM's global strategy to simplify the leadership structure. Meanwhile, GroupM's Northeast Asia CEO Michael Beecroft will oversee the Hong Kong office. 

Apart from Chow and Tsui, those who are exiting include Carlton Kwan, chief financial officer, GroupM Hong Kong and Gilles Detanger, chief commercial officer for EssenceMediaCom for APAC.

Back in February, GroupM China’s country manager and CEO Patrick Xu stepped down from his role after 10 years, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE understands. 

Don't miss: GroupM China's CEO Patrick Xu steps down after 10 years  

His role will be split and replaced by WPP senior executives Ruper McPetrie and Chris Reitermann.   

This came shortly after the Chinese authorities raided GroupM’s Shanghai office detained a senior executive and two former employees over alleged bribery in October last year.   

While in APAC, GroupM reorganised its APAC leadership structure into four distinct market clusters back in March last year, in which its APAC CEO Ashutosh Srivastava vacated his role to explore new opportunities within WPP, as confirmed to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. 

The move comes as the agency is looking to simplify its business structure and to enable itself to move faster and be more aligned with its clients, who believe GroupM's APAC markets should be managed at a much more local level.

The agency has also seen great success with this approach in other regions and a similar impact is expected in the APAC region. 

Despite the leadership reshuffle, GroupM announced its commitment to double media investment for annual women’s sports with the creation of a dedicated marketplace back in March. 

GroupM will seek first look and first-to-market opportunities beginning with the 2024-2025 Upfront alongside advertisers including adidas, Ally, Coinbase, Discover, Google, Mars, Nationwide, Unilever, Universal Pictures, amongst others.  

Women’s sports are projected to generate more than US$1 billion in revenue in 2024, according to Deloitte, as recent peaks in viewership and engagement across sports channels indicate fans’ appetites for women’s sports are at an all-time high. GroupM will collaborate with its media partners to identify and allocate media investments to drive the discovery, promotion and monetization of women’s sports.  

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