Anthony Plant, CEO of IPG Mediabrands Japan since 2013, will become executive vice president, global president of J3—UM's dedicated media unit for Johnson & Johnson, the agency's largest global client. Effective immediately, he replaces Eileen Kiernan who last week was named global CEO of UM in a round of leadership shifts that also saw Philippe Krakowsky elevated to chief operating officer of IPG and Daryl Lee to chief executive of IPG Mediabrands.

An IPG Mediabrands spokeswoman declined to say who will replace Plant as chief executive of the Interpublic Group of Cos. media network's Japan region. Johnson & Johnson did not immediately return a request for comment.

In his new role, Plant will act as "chief liaison" across J3 to ensure consistency, accountability and scale, according to the agency. His responsibilities include managing global partnerships and developing a streamlined approach to media planning at J3.

"Global perspective is critical to delivering the highest form of innovation and collaboration, and I am excited by the challenge to lead J3 into the future," Plant said in a statement.

Prior to joining IPG Mediabrands, Plant spent more than 13 years at Publicis Groupe creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi as director of P&G brands in China.

Johnson & Johnson consolidated its global media account with UM's J3 in 2015 after a review. J3 had previously handled some international work for the consumer packaged goods giant, while WPP's MEC managed parts of the business in Europe and Omnicom's OMD supported Latin America and Asia. Johnson & Johnson had also moved its North American account back to J3—it was shifted to OMD for only a year—in 2015 in a decision separate from the larger global review.

According to estimates from Ad Age's Datacenter, Johnson & Johnson spent $935 million on measured media in the U.S. alone in 2018.