Mindshare China Makes Leadership Appointments

Mindshare China announced this morning two senior leadership elevations on the team. Benjamin Condit takes over the responsibility of Mindshare China CEO and Linda Lin takes over the responsibility of Executive Chair of Greater China. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Benjamin joined the agency in 2012 and has most recently served as Mindshare China’s Chief Strategy Officer, a role to which he was appointed in July 2015. Ben has been instrumental in driving our strategic product, delivery across clients and been the architect behind some of our biggest pitch wins. Mindshare’s unassailable position as China’s most awarded agency for client work has been achieved through Benjamin’s commitment to elevate the agency’s work and people – an effort that has seen Mindshare China win “agency of the year” 39 times and counting at China, APAC and WW award shows! He will take over leadership of the over 1,000 strong agency and drive the growing the agency’s product, its people and most importantly its client relationships. Prior to Mindshare, Benjamin has worked with both startups and global agencies like Isobar across Asia. He will report in to Patrick Xu, CEO of GroupM Greater China and WPP Greater China and Mindshare APAC CEO, Amrita Randhawa.

Speaking on his appointment to the role Condit said “Over the last nine years I have had the privilege to work as part of a team that has built the industry’s most awarded and dominant media agency with an incredible roster of client partnerships. One that is recognized not just in China, but internationally. The future of our industry globally is already being experienced here in China, and I am absolutely honored to lead this incredible, talented team in such a dynamic market.”

Linda Lin takes over the role of Executive Chair of Greater China from her current role as Chief Operating Officer. She will work with Benjamin to define areas for future growth and new services and brands that Mindshare will develop as China’s rapidly changing landscape challenges agencies to think in new ways about our offering to clients. She will further work with Patrick Xu to bring greater cohesion between the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong operations for Mindshare’s key clients who are increasingly looking at unifying operations in these markets. Linda’s personal credibility, incredible understanding of the China media landscape and what clients need see her uniquely placed to handle this challenge. Lin is 25 years+ veteran of the agency and one of the most respected figures in the industry in China.

Speaking on her new remit Lin said “I am thrilled to take on this new role and expand my footprint to drive Mindshare business to an even more successful level with all the new opportunities across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It’s my pleasure to continue to contribute to our success together with all the high caliber people in the network.”

Mindshare China is by far the number 1 agency in the market managing $6.8 billion in media investment billings (COMvergence, 2019). The agency was most recently ranked #1 for the year 2020 in the R3 New Business League in the China market and just this past week added to its many Agency of the Year accolades with wins for Media Strategy and Digital Strategy Agency of the year at Tangrams at Spikes.

Commenting on the elevations, Patrick Xu, CEO of GroupM Greater China and WPP Greater China, said “I am so delighted to see the two experienced leaders with relentless focus on client service, and people development taking more crucial roles in Mindshare and GroupM. As we are transforming into the new era, I am confident that Benjamin and Linda are the right leaders in the right place to ensure our leading position for years ahead.”

“The process to transition China leadership has been a long and thorough one, lasting almost four months. I am delighted these elevations have come from within the agency, a testament to the incredible talent we have. At a personal level, after having worked with these two outstanding human beings for over 8 years, I could not be happier, prouder or more confident of Mindshare China’s future.” Said Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Mindshare Asia Pacific.

About Mindshare

We were born in Asia in 1997, a WPP start up designed to make media exciting, fun and life changing. For the last 20 years our values of Speed, Teamwork and Provocation have guided us in a world where everything begins and ends in media. We are the Cannes Lions Media Network of the Year 2019 and WARC Media 100 #1 Media Network 2020, with the top 3 most creative campaigns of the past year –so basically, statistically the best media agency in the world! Our 10,000 people work with some of the world’s best brands and companies to challenge convention.In 116 offices across 86 countries we integrate brand and demand, ruthlessly focus on outcomes and create the unexpected. We manage $24.1bn in billings and are the largest media agency in GroupM, WPP’s Media Investment Management arm, which is the #1 media holding group globally with billings of $63bn (Source:COMvergence 2019).