Rankin succeeds Will Spence as group director at UM.
Spence was promoted to a newly created national role as commercial director for its four offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane, and tasked with developing and co-ordinating diversified communications services at UM and across the IPG Mediabrands group, as well as business development and coordination.
The agency said in a statement that Rankin is bringing in "top-class client experience and leadership talent".
Rankin was formerly communications director at Australia’s independent media agency Ikon Communications, where he led the Commonwealth Bank business for the past two years, focusing on CommBank's business banking, institutional banking and the bank’s credit card portfolio, as well as the CommSec account.
Prior to CommBank, he played a key leadership role on Ikon’s Coca-Cola business for four years.
Mat Baxter, UM Australia CEO, said engaging with the highest quality talent from inside and outside the media industry was the highest priority for UM at the national level.