Adknowledge Asia announces Matt Sutton as first CEO

By Digital News Asia March 31, 2016

Company a JV between KL-based Axiata and US-based Adknowledge
Expects major APAC advertisers to move 50% of their budgets online by 2018

ADKNOWLEDGE Asia said it has appointed Matt Sutton (pic above) as its first chief executive officer in the region.

He will be responsible for driving the next wave of expansion for its proprietary social and video platform AdParlor, the company said in a statement.

These plans include doubling headcount through growth in existing markets (Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand) as well as entering new markets, it added.

Adknowledge Asia is a joint venture between Kuala Lumpur-headquartered regional telecoms giant Axiata Group Bhd and US-headquartered advertising technology (adtech) company Adknowledge Inc that was formed in January 2015.

Sutton will move into the new role from his previous position as senior vice president of operations for Adknowledge Asia.

In the newly established regional role, he will report to the board, which includes Adknowledge Inc global chief executive officer Ben Legg, who has been overseeing AdParlor expansion across the region.

“Matt [Sutton] has 13 years of invaluable experience in digital advertising in Asia, which he brings to the AdParlor platform, making him the absolute best person for the job,” said Legg.

“As a real champion of programmatic and data-driven advertising, he is perfectly poised to lead the business,” he added.

Adknowledge Asia said it is using telecom data to improve ad targeting and insight generation on social media networks through the AdParlor platform, which it claimed enables advertisers to generate maximum ROI (return on investment) from the social space.

It also makes it easier for advertisers to move media spend from TV to digital video, to capture the growing audience of consumers watching video on social channels, the company added.

“I couldn't be more excited to take on this role at such a pivotal time in the growth of the Asia Pacific digital ad market,” said Sutton.

“By 2018, we expect all major advertisers to be spending in excess of 50% of their budgets online; and shifting their TV budgets to online platforms with a 70% share going to the likes of Facebook, YouTube and programmatic TV.

“AdParlor is well placed to service this demand with a potent combination of direct access to these publishers, consolidated technology, exclusive data partnerships and local customer service,” he added.

Adknowledge Asia also announced that Damien Lavin, managing director for South-East Asia and Australia/ New Zealand, has been promoted to chief revenue officer.

He will be responsible for customer acquisition and service across all of Adknowledge Asia’s offices, and will report to Sutton.