Blue 449 CEO John Preston becomes chairman of Publicis Media Australia
The CEO of media agency Blue 449 has been promoted to the newly created role of chairman of Publicis Media Australia.
Preston founded Match Media in 2003 and then sold it to Publicis Media in 2014, before it rebranded to Blue 449 in 2016. He will remain as Blue 449 CEO until the end of the year.

Publicis Media CEO Matt James with Preston
So the chairman reports to the CEO?
Who made the appointment and who reports to who?
Honestly.
Chairman. CEO.
In the real world these titles mean something.
Imagine what their clients think – real CEOs
who report to real board members.
Here I was still trying to work out between all the different agencies, in which one is managing partner more senior that managing director, and visa versa.
And now Publicis go and pull the trick of chairman reporting into CEO….
“Publicis stressed James will continue to have full strategic, operational and financial responsibility of Publicis Media, overseeing Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry, Blue 449 and Performics.”.
Translation: “I am the boss. This new role has no authority.”