Augmented reality technology company Blippar has appointed former chairman and global CEO of MediaCom Stephen Allan to its board as a non-executive director.
He joins having acted as an advisor to the company and its CEO, Faisal Galaria, for the past year.
A 39-year media agency veteran, Allan was MediaCom’s worldwide chairman and CEO from 2008 to 2020. Prior to this, he was CEO of GroupM UK, and before that spent many years as CEO of MediaCom UK.
During his tenure, MediaCom saw tremendous global growth, becoming a top-four media agency worldwide. Under Allan’s global leadership, the agency won many of the industry’s most prestigious awards and was the first agency to win all six major agency network of the year awards, including Cannes Lions.
Outside the advertising industry Allan is chairman and co-founder of Rays of Sunshine, a charity that grants wishes to terminally and seriously ill children.
“In my advisory role over the last year I have come to understand Blippar and seen first-hand why and how AR is a game changing technology for a wide range of industries,” said Allan.
“From eCommerce to automotive, health and beauty, to education and architecture, AR revolutionises how businesses can engage with their audiences through new immersive experiences.
“I believe AR is the next generation of human and computer interaction – some are saying this will come when the metaverse is fully realised, but it is happening right now.
“Blippar’s industry-leading creativity platforms and bespoke studio capability put it at the forefront of this fast growing market, making it an exciting time to be joining the board and helping drive its ambitious growth plans.”
Allan’s board appointment follows the launch of Blippar’s AR development toolkit, WebAR SDK. Created to empower developers and creatives to build immersive, rich WebAR experiences from the ground up, the toolkit is the next step in Blippar’s ongoing commitment to opening up AR creativity to everyone, and a foundation on which the first structures of the metaverse will be built.
“It’s been fantastic to benefit from Stephen’s experience and guidance over the last year, and we’re thrilled to now have him on the board,” said Galaria.
“Having spent his career realising the ambitions and visions of CMO’s from global brands and companies, he understands what they demand from their creative campaigns, which is hugely beneficial to Blippar.”
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