McCann Worldgroup brings in Patrick Rona as chief digital officer in Asia-Pacific

Rona, who previously held the same title at DDB Asia Pacific, will assume his new position at McCann’s Singapore office in January, reporting to Charles Cadell, president McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific.

Cadell told Campaign Asia-Pacific that the appointment was in response to continuing demand and growth in the digital space.

“There’s never enough you can do in terms of digital and bringing in new people and talent,” he said. The agency's digital growth rate in Asia this year has been above 20 per cent, and McCann expects it to exceed that number again next year.

“While we have strong digital operations in most of our markets, part of Patrick’s core role will be to ensure that we better work as a network across Asia," added Cadell. "Digital constantly evolves, and to remain competitive, we must keep pace to ensure we are providing our clients with richer, innovative solutions.”

In his new role, Rona will be responsible for strengthening McCann’s digital capabilities across the region as well as developing marketing strategies for the network’s clients. He will also oversee developments in emergent areas, such as mobile and commerce. Some of McCann’s clients include General Motors, Microsoft, L’Oréal, Nestlé and MasterCard.

In June this year, it was reported that Rona would be stepping down from his role as chief digital officer of DDB Asia-Pacific and president of Tribal DDB Asia-Pacific. Before moving to the region in 2012, he was Tribal DDB’s EMEA regional president and chief digital officer at DDB for EMEA, based out of London.

Commenting on his new role, Rona said: “Since moving to Asia three years ago, I’ve watched McCann’s business and creative growth with great admiration. I can’t wait to start working with Charles and the rest of the team to help accelerate this growth and to continue to elevate our digital offering across the region.”