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Vassallo joins from Aegis-owned Carat, where he was interactive European account director for Dell, and will report to Mark Syal, head of Walker-i.

As account director for Barclays Retail at Walker-i, Vassallo will manage 12 staff. These include seven dedicated planners and buyers, three search specialists and two members of the affiliate marketing team.

Syal said Vassallo would start in two weeks and a key part of his role would be to liaise closely with the offline staff at Walker to ensure an integrated service for Barclays.

Vassallo has five years' experience in the industry and previously worked with Syal at Aegis.

Syal said: "Paul has excellent client management skills and a lot of planning experience. When I worked with him on Dell, he always hit his targets - he is very reliable and a good communicator as well."

Walker Media established Walker-i at the end of 2005 and Syal came on board 13 months ago after serving his notice period at Aegis.

The agency committed to staff up on the digital side when it won the £70m Barclays account last year. Walker-i now has 25 staff.

The Barclays Retail account is the agency's biggest piece of digital business, with online spend of about £15m, including search.

Walker-i recently picked up the £10m Barclaycard business and also holds the separate Barclays Wealth, Barclays International and Barclays Business accounts, which will not be managed by Vassallo.

Syal said Walker-i was not pitching for new business, but was growing incrementally by converting clients who already used Walker Media for traditional media into digital, such as retail chain Dixons.

Walker Media has had a change of management recently, with chairman and co-founder Christine Walker stepping down and selling her stake to M&C Saatchi for £6.3m, plus shares. Her business partner Phil Georgiadis has become chairman and remains chief executive.