Xaxis, WPP’s programmatic business, has named Nicolas Bidon as global president, succeeding Brian Gleason who is moving to GroupM’s new [m]platform as global CEO.
Bidon was previously CEO, EMEA at Xaxis where he led operations across the company’s 25 markets in the region, a role he only took on in July. Prior to that he was global CEO of native ad specialist plista, a part of the Xaxis business.
“Nicolas has played an integral role in the Xaxis success story over the past four years and we are pleased to welcome his leadership as global president,” said Gleason.
“His extensive knowledge of the Xaxis business, proven leadership ability and experience developing and launching new programmatic products across global markets makes him an ideal choice for the position.”
Bidon will lead Xaxis’ expansion of its proprietary technology and data offerings with an emphasis on addressability, accountability and performance. This includes its recently acquired digital retail unit, Triad Retail Media, a global digital retail business that helps retailers and brands create, manage and operate digital advertising programs. Announced in October, the Triad acquisition closed last week.
“Xaxis continues to set the standard for the programmatic industry when it comes to delivering performance, innovation and measurable results for our clients and I am honoured for the opportunity to lead our extremely talented team in the next phase of our development,” Bidon said.
“Our mission has not changed: we aim to leverage our technology and data assets to deliver guaranteed ROI for brands, while making advertising more relevant and timely to consumers. We look forward to continuing to advance the state of the art in audience and performance driven media products to achieve that goal.”
