Current Wunderman Thompson’s President of eRetail, Frank Kochenash, leaves WPP Group to join Omnicom as eCommerce CEO, OMG informed today.
Kochenash brings rich experience in eCommerce with an exemplary track record of planning, launching and growing key businesses and products for retailers, brands and agencies. He has worked with a variety of large retailers and major brands to identify and grow ecommerce opportunities and to help them strategically adapt to the digitally enabled future of retail.
He will report to Sophie Daranyi, CEO of Omnicom Commerce Group, and work closely with the Media, Commerce and Precision teams.
The new eCommerce CEO will work across Omnicom’s networks and practice areas, advancing the Group’s eCommerce strategy and product offering as well as orchestrating expertise from the Group’s eCommerce centers of excellence to deliver bespoke solutions for client business outcomes.
“Frank’s appointment reflects our continued focus on eCommerce innovation and investment to deliver holistic retail investment strategies that integrate brand demand with product conversion for our clients,” comments John Wren, Chairman and CEO of Omnicom Group. “His experience and leadership will help our continued transformation in delivering leading-edge eCommerce solutions.”
Before hiring Frank Kochenash Omnicom had announced recently a number of enterprise partnerships including Kroger, Walmart, Instacart and GoPuff as well as new partnerships with retail analytics platform Crisp and purchase data provider Affinity Solutions.
Having had an initial successful career in the US Navy, Kochenash joined McKinsey and Company in 2000 where he led marketing and operational strategy engagements. He then joined Amazon.com in 2003 where he led the location strategy and build-out of fulfilment centres across America, Europe and Japan. He also led the digital media operations function for Amazon’s digital products, which included its early video, music and eBook products. He later joined the agency side in 2007 as Managing Director for Strategy, Analytics, and Innovation at Avenue A/Razorfish.
From there, Kochenash moved to Mercent Corporation, a product data optimization and performance technology firm, where he led product management and agency services helping retailers and DTC brands grow on key channels including Google Shopping and Amazon marketplace. After a short period at CommerceHub (which acquired Mercent in 2015), he joined WPP in 2017 to setup and grow commerce at POSSIBLE before it was incorporated into Wunderman Commerce where he was Managing Director for North America and eventually led eRetail services in North America.
“I am excited by the opportunity to build and innovate at the Group level – driving the evolution and optimization of Omnicom’s eCommerce offering across media, commerce and precision as well as planning and investing for the future of digital commerce,” said Kochenash.
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