Translation has hired a new president as the company’s founder, Steve Stoute, looks to scale the agency’s footprint, offerings and its music distribution company, UnitedMasters.

Jonathan Akwue, most recently president and global media lead for the Bank of America and Samsung accounts at Publicis Groupe, joins Translation as its president today.

Stoute is also looking to expand Translation’s footprint. Translation, which is now working with Qatar Tourism, is working to launch its first international office, which would be in the Middle East, he said.

Akwue is based in New York. He had been with Publicis for nearly nine years and previously served as a managing partner for Digitas in the U.K. and as CEO of social content agency Lost Boys, which eventually became a part of Digitas. Akwue also authored a graphic novel called “Decoded” and founded Black Art Forms, a platform dedicated to showcasing Black creative talent.

The president role at Translation had been vacant since Ann Wool left the agency in the spring of 2023. Wool is currently the North America president of United Entertainment Group.

Stoute said it took a while to fill the role because he was looking for a president who had both media and creativity chops. Adding media buying capabilities is part of “the consideration set” for the company’s future, Stoute said, as he looks to grow both the Translation and UnitedMasters parts of the business.

“The advertising business many years ago used to be an industry where the creative and media buying lived together and then over time, they got split up,” Stoute said. “Now you realize, from a practical standpoint, that storytelling in the context in which the story is placed is very important.”

Part of Akwue’s remit will be working on how Translation and UnitedMasters work together and enhancing how the independent artists under UnitedMasters connect with brands, similar to how influencers are used to target different types of consumers.

UnitedMasters, which recently resigned a distribution deal with the NFL and signed its first distribution deal with TikTok, will make up 60% of the company’s revenue by the end of the year, according to Stoute.

“Our 2.6 million artists on our platform, who generate billions of streams, [provide] valuable intelligence that resembles media properties,” Stoute said. “If you look at what the artists do, from their social media, to their streaming DSP [demand-side platform] footprint to their YouTube presence, these things are all steeped in a deep understanding of who their customers are, who their fans are, and those are insights that resemble what media buying companies need to understand with content. Having a deep understanding of that content can help inform creative, media buying, briefs, and how to solve a problem.”

Utilizing UnitedMasters’ data and potentially coupling it with other data will become a key differentiator, especially as more agencies continue to invest in “culture” offerings,” Akwue said.

“Most agencies talk about being a culture agency, but they’re all getting their insights from the same place,” said Akwue, citing data providers such as Nielsen and consumer research company GWI.