Under the restructuring plan, the advertising-media agency will stand on three legs – Initiative, UM and Ensemble. Initiative and UM provide media planning and buying services, while Ensemble is a provider of branded content and activation and digital services.

Tharaputh Charuvatana, newly appointed group chief executive officer of the company, said there would be a lot of Ensemble changes due to the expansion of digital activities in response to new demands from clients who wanted to explore more opportunities in the digital era – leading to increased e-commerce.

“After the revamp, Ensemble will be a growth driver of the company,” he said.

Along with this strategy, IPG Mediabrands has established a new team of 15 digital scientists to work on data analytics and research to support other units.

Fresh approach

Tharaputh explained that media planning and buying in the digital era were totally different, as advertisers tended to demand more from online advertising via various forms such as online video sharing on top of paid commercials on TV channels.

To strengthen its media buying and planning parts, the company appointed Malee Kittipongpisal as chief executive officer of the “Initiative” leg. Before joining the company, Malee had been group managing partner at Mindshare Thailand for 17 years.

Malee said today’s advertisers did not only want effectiveness or a return on their investment in their spending but also needed to boost their sales revenue.

Wannee Rattanaphon, chairwoman of IPG Mediabrands, said that after the change, it was forecast that the Initiative arm would contribute 60 per cent of the company’s total revenue while UM and Ensemble would represent 20 per cent each.

The company acknowledged that the media industry faced a tough situation this year so the planned revenue target of 15 per cent year-on-year growth could not be delivered.

However, the company is optimistic that next year’s revenue will grow 20 per cent, mainly driven by the new restructure and new digital assignments, both from new and existing clients.