The role will involve leading all marketing output from the IAB and include managing databases, direct mail and above-the-line activity. The main remit, according to chief executive Danny Meadows-Klue, will be "to make online simpler to buy and easier to understand" and to manage the IAB's relationship with ad agency Masius.
Until now, Meadows-Klue has been responsible for all IAB marketing activity.
It launched its first campaign to promote online through Masius at the end of last year.
Meadows-Klue said the new role marked the "next wave of the IAB's expansion" and demonstrated the growing maturity of online advertising. The IAB will scale up advertising activity on the back of the appointment, including a re-run of last year's trade campaign.
Online advertising reached the IAB's target of 2% of total advertising market share at the end of the year and is now worth more than £300m.
The IAB has fixed a target of 4% of total market share to be met by autumn 2007. This would exceed the share enjoyed by radio advertising.
Meadows-Klue said the marketing appointment would help the IAB meet this target, as the role will involve working as a "champion of the role of online advertising".
The growth of online advertising has been boosted by an increasing acceptance from FMCG brands and major advertisers. These include McDonald's and GlaxoSmithKline, which are starting to commit sizeable portions of their ad budget to the medium and are appointing digital agencies of record.
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