Microsoft appoints Asia-based head of Ad operations

Microsoft has appointed its first Asia-based head of its advertising operations.

Richard Dunmall will be general manager for Microsoft Advertising Greater Asia-Pacific, overseeing Microsoft's relationship with advertisers across the region. He relocates from London to Hong Kong.

The firm rebranded its MDAS (Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions) unit to Microsoft Advertising in an attempt to boost appeal to advertisers.

The division brings together all Microsoft's ad services, including portal MSN, search services and in-game firm Massive. Dunmall admitted Microsoft had work to do to ''build scale'' in the region, but pointed to ad services such as behavioural targeting and pay-per-performance that the company is rolling out in Asia.