ECI Media Management and MMC appoint George Patten as APAC head

ECI Media Management and Media Marketing Compliance (MMC) have appointed George Patten as head of Asia Pacific to lead their joint expansion efforts across the region.

MMC conducts audits for advertisers worldwide to deliver financial transparency in the marketing supply chain by verifying their media spend and the correct advertising application according to their contract. ECI Media Management conducts media performance audits and tracking, pitch management, and KPI-setting and evaluation for advertisers.

Previously, the global chief executive at Accenture Media Management, ASEAN Lead for Accenture Song Operations, and chief operating officer for APAC at Dentsu, Patten will spearhead the firms’ push into a region characterised by high media spend but limited use of marketing consultancies. Patten has lived in Asia for 14 years, will be based out of the office in Singapore, and will work alongside teams from both companies on the ground in Japan, China, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Australia.

According to MMC and ECI Media Management, the APAC region contains some of the top-spending media markets but only 20% of clients use a marketing consultancy, meaning billions of ad dollars go unverified each month.

Patten explains to Campaign the challenge for media consultancies in APAC lies not in persuading clients but in educating them about the existence and value of such services. Due to the current setup of the media consulting industry, much of the work for APAC is often managed out of London rather than locally. As a result, local consultants may not fully grasp the distinct differences between markets such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand.

“To work in Asia, you must be a chameleon, adapting to work differently with different clients in diverse markets. Being on the ground helps you do that,” says Patten. “Clients need to understand the difference that local presence can make—this isn’t just part of a global exercise centrally reported back to London. It’s about having local people in local markets who truly understand the challenges specific to an Indonesian market versus an Indian one.”

Patten continues: “APAC includes some of the world's largest media markets; it has three of the top five countries by GDP—India, China, and Japan. Even places like Indonesia have a GDP comparable to Spain. In Spain, about 80% of the market is covered by media consultants, but it's certainly not 80% in Indonesia. Yet, a dollar in Indonesia is just as important as one in Spain.”

ECI and MMC will focus on the financial supply chain in the APAC region, claiming to serve clients like Samsung, Apple, Meta, Sony, Colgate, and Singtel. 

Before the digital media boom more than three decades ago, the process was simple: funds moved from the client to the media agency and then to the media owner, with some rebates possibly returning to the agency and client. However, the rise of digital channels, programmatic buying, and agencies becoming media owners has made this supply chain far more complex and disorganised.

ECI and MMC prioritise scrutinising the financial flow from start to finish, ensuring that contracts are robust and favour clients rather than agencies. This involves examining who the beneficiaries are, what they are owed, and how the entire process—from rebates and controls to financial management—is handled. It also includes verifying that media plans are suitable for clients and executed correctly, on time, and in the right context.

“Asia, in particular, is a chaotic market with vast budgets at play, and when control is not tightly maintained, issues can arise,” explains Patten. “There could be impressions shown at the wrong time or place, fraudulent impressions, AI or bot-generated impressions, or even simple TV metrics like GRPs per week going unchecked. We benchmark pricing and quality to ensure our clients are not just getting the market average—they’re getting far better. Our role is to ensure that every penny due to our clients from rebates and controls is returned to them, but sadly, this isn’t always the case. In an ideal world, my role wouldn’t need to exist.”