The mobile marketing industry is ever-changing, and that applies to the people as much as the technology. Movers & Shakers is our regular feature following the hottest hires in the industry, so you can keep track of who’s joined which company, and what they’re doing there.

Simon McPhillips joins Quantcast to strengthen EMEA marketing efforts
AI-driven audience insights and measurement platform Quantcast has unveiled Simon McPhillips, former head of marketing at Vodafone UK, as its new marketing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. McPhillips will be based in Quantcast’s London office and report to the firm’s chief marketing and communications officer, Steven Wolfe Pereira.

“The EMEA region has been a strategic priority for Quantcast ever since we opened our London office in 2010,” said Wolfe Pereira. “Since then, we have added offices in Ireland, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden as we’ve continued to grow our client base among the region’s advertisers, agencies and publishers. Simon’s expertise in helping brands navigate through digital transformation makes him the ideal candidate to help the region’s brand leaders adapt to a new reality of digital advertising under GDPR and to wider trends in the industry. We’re thrilled to have him on the team.”

With a career spanning more than 20 years, McPhillips has held senior marketing roles for some of the world’s largest brands, including AT&T, Kimberly-Clark, Sprint and BP. An expert in leading digital transformation across large organisations, he has worked across the UK, Germany and the US. In his new role, he will be focused on driving Quantcast’s continued revenue growth in the region. Core to this will be driving engagement among the region’s CMOs and senior brand leaders across advertisers and publishers.

“I’ve witnessed Quantcast’s continued growth and success in recent years and believe we’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to helping brands grow in the AI era,” said McPhillips. “Quantcast’s unique data and machine learning technology make it ideally placed to help CMOs get a complete picture of how best to plan, deliver and measure the richest digital brand experience and, ultimately, achieve their business objectives. I’m excited to have the opportunity to help tell the Quantcast story.”

Rapp UK promotes Hiten Bhatt to lead design output
Creative agency veteran Hiten Bhatt has been promoted to creative director for design at data-based digital agency Rapp UK. Having joined the team in 2016, Bhatt will now be responsible for the design output across all of Rapp’s clients, including Virgin Media, PayPal and Mercedes-Benz. Reporting to Rapp’s chief creative officer, Al Mackie, he will also focus on continuing Rapp’s unwavering commitment to cutting-edge digital creative.

Bhatt boats over 18 years’ experience in the industry, including an 11-year stint at OgilvyOne. He is a vocal advocate of diversity in creative industries, and acts as a mentor for students at The One Club Creative Bootcamp, which guides young people from a wide range of cultures, races, genders and orientations into creative roles. This year, he is part of the judging panel for the Drum Design Awards and a member of the DMA’s Creative Committee.

“Hiten’s passion and talent enable us to push the boundaries of stand out and effective design,” said Chris Freeland, CEO of Rapp UK. “Without doubt, he is a unique talent and his determination to raise the bar make him the ideal person to lead our design group.”

Washington Post names new head of ad product
The Washington Post’s chief revenue officer Jed Hartman has announced Jeffrey Turner, formerly of Oath, as the publisher’s new head of ad product, overseeing the Research, Experimentation and Development (RED) team. In his role, Turner will imagine, build and implement cutting-edge technology and applications designed to position the company as a market leader on web and mobile advertising platforms.

Turner has held several leadership positions at AOL and HuffPost, both of which are now part of Oath, and was most recently senior director of product at Oath, responsible for advertising innovation. Turner will report to Jason Tollestrup, vice president of programmatic strategy and yield at The Washington Post, and will be based in Washington D.C.

“In 2015, I was thinking about how The Post could be both a trusted content brand and a remarkable ad tech company, and I envisioned a team whose sole purpose was to build the future of digital advertising rather than focusing on daily tech operations and bug-fixing – that team became RED,” said Hartman. “With the appointment of Jeff and his years of experience delivery high quality products to market, we’re excited to push forward with aggressive initiatives and continue being at the forefront of ad tech innovation.”

Mark Pocock leaves Telefonica for new role at Decision Tech
Having recently been acquired by the Moneysupermarket Group, Decision Tech is wasting no time in strengthening its team, hiring Mark Pocock as the company’s new senior commercial manager for home communications. He will be tasked with leading the strategic commercial direction of the firm’s Home Communications portfolio, and head a team of account managers responsible for the day-to-day commercial relationships with over 20 key telecoms providers.

Pocock brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from the provider’s perspective, having most recently served as partner account manager at Telefonica. While there, he was responsible for the management of SIM distribution partners and worked to ensure the brand remained visible and available in a diverse marketplace.

“I’m really excited to join Decision Tech,” said Pocock. “As an organisation, Decision Tech has built best-in-market technology that maximises customer experience and monetisation for our providers and white label partners. Decision Tech has a reputation for being a great place to work and I’m working alongside an incredible team in a progressive organisation.”

Doodle supports expansion plans with two senior appointments
Online scheduling tool Doodle is seeking an ambitious expansion into the global enterprise market, and has started by making two new senior appointments, naming Jens Naie as chief technology officer and Tilman Eberle as vice president of marketing & communication. The two bring international experience as well as strong technology and marketing credentials to the firm.

Naie is a computer engineer who most recently headed up the German IT division of the Takeaway.com Group, and was previously a partner and technical manager at competitonline, the largest German-speaking architectural community and tender platform. Eberle has a wealth of experience at Doodle, having played a central role in the company’s branding campaigns between 2008 and 2012, and since then has held a number of senior positions at companies including Video Intelligence and Viewster.

“Doodle has a very talented team located in Zurich, Berlin, Tel Aviv and Belgrade, and the two new members are a perfect fit for us and our ambitious expansion strategy,” said Gabriele Ottino, managing director of Doodle. “Tilman Eberle is an old friend who brings extensive marketing expertise in both the B2C and B2B markets. Importantly, he knows Doodle and its success story inside out. I am also pleased to welcome Jens to the position of CTO. He assembled a significant development team at Takeaway.com and this experience will serve him well at Doodle as we seek to continually strengthen and improve our technology and grow the engineering team over the coming months.”

Unlockd bolsters executive team as Andrew Cantle comes on board
‘Attention-based’ mobile rewards platform Unlockd has hired Andrew Cantle, previously executive vice president for global businesses development and partnerships at GoCanvas, as its chief commercial officer. A seasoned and experience global executive, Cantle will be responsible for positioning Unlockd’s demand teams globally for future growth, as well as onboarding new supply partners from mobile network operators, streaming and loyalty providers.

Cantle spent six years at GoCanvas, and as vice president for EMEA & APAC, was responsible for rolling out the mobile form company’s operations and relationships in EMEA while overseeing continued growth in APAC. Prior to GoCanvas, he served as country manager for Australia and the UK at Tranglo Mobile Payments, and general manager & sales director at SpinVox.

“Andrew brings an impressive track record of global executive leadership and results across sales, partnerships and market development, said Jane Martino, CEO at Unlockd. “Whilst Andrew’s background is aligned to our supply and partnerships functions, he knows what it takes to build and scale a global business that is both game changing and profitable – so we know Andrew will make a strong executive contribution to the demand side teams.”

Ian Scarffe added to Pool of Stake’s advisory board
Blockchain expert Ian Scarffe has joined the board of advisors for Pool of Stake, a decentralised pool for Proof of Stake blockchains. As the group continues to attract international attention, Scarffe will bring his extensive experience within investor relations and blockchain markets to support the Pool of Stake fundraising process.

Scarffe is a serial entrepreneur, investor and consultant with business experience from around the world. As a leading entrepreneur, Scarffe has made it his personal mission to develop a culture of entrepreneurship, helping starts achieve their full potential as well as helping to expand existing companies. A leading expert in Bitcoin, blockchain and the cryptocurrency industry, he currently consults and advises for a range of multi-million dollar companies.

“As a highly experienced and seasoned blockchain advisor, Ian’s expertise will be an asset to the Pool of Stake ICO and its continued global expansion,” said Davide Luigi Borella, CEO of Pool of Stake. The company aims to serve the next generation of blockchains, enabling Qtum, BOScoin, Tezos and other proof of stake coin holders to come together and generate daily forging rewards.