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Marquis: will be reporting to Perriss

Zenith Media's UK chief executive Simon Marquis has been appointed UK group chief executive of Zenith Optimedia as the two Publicis-owned networks pool their negotiating power.

In a move to be announced internally this week, Marquis will report to Zenith Optimedia worldwide group chief executive John Perriss.

As part of the restructure, Zenith managing partner Tom George is expected to be appointed head of Zenith Optimedia's buying operations, which should be operating by the end of this year.

Marquis will take up the new and larger UK roll, overseeing Zenith managing director Tim Greatrex and Optimedia managing director Greg Turzynski, who will remain as managing directors of their respective agencies.

Greatrex confirmed that he and Turzynski were working together to review the opportunities open to the agencies to work together.

The changes at Zenith Optimedia come amid major upheaval within the Publicis advertising Group.

Its decision to dissolve long-standing creative agency D'Arcy into its other creative shops Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi was also announced this week and in turn has revived speculation that the merger of Starcom Motive and Mediavest, also acquired as part of Bcom3, is imminent.