iris' global chief Ian Millner moves to Asia to boost expansion

Millner will be based in the network’s Singapore office and is expected to ramp up the agency’s operations in Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as India, Australia and China.

iris already has 17 offices across 10 countries and its APAC footprint counts offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Delhi, Sydney and Melbourne. Further investment is planned in China and Indonesia.

Millner will also remain heavily involved in all aspects of client business globally and will travel to all regions to work on key client accounts such as Sony Ericsson, Barclaycard, Shell, Hertz and adidas.

On his move, Millner said: “The mature agency markets in the US and Europe are still just coming back to life after a lengthy period of doom and gloom. It is possible that these markets will never be the same again, and will lose their influence to the newer more dynamic marketing markets that are more open to risk, innovation and integration.”

“We think that we can reproduce the sort of growth we’ve enjoyed in our most mature offices throughout Asia. This will be the making of iris as a real threat to the advertising-led global networks, and will be an incredibly exciting period in our history," he added.

Millner’s move follows the recent creation of regional management teams for China, Asia, Europe and the Americas at the start of this month.

Paul Bainsfair will continue to lead iris’ European operations as regional CEO, David King will lead the new China region, Stewart Shanley, joint global CEO and co-founder will focus on the Americas while Josh Thomson, former CEO of iris Concise, will focus on Asia-Pacific.