Innocean Worldwide, the advertising subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, has appointed a new global chief strategy officer, in a move to add fuel to its global growth and digital transformation, officials said Monday.

This marked the first time that the company has created a top post to supervise its global strategy and appointed an outside expert for the role.

The company named Nicholas Kim, 50, a Korean American who formerly served as chief strategy officer at Publicis Groupe in New York, for the role.

As the business development supervisor of Innocean’s 29 operation offices in 20 countries across the world, Kim will be focusing on the digital transformation initiative, as well as mid- and long-term visions including merger and acquisition road maps, officials added.

“A member of the advisory council for Harvard Business Review, Kim is a global strategy expert with 20 years of diverse experience in brand, digital, media, design and investment consulting,” the company said in a release.

“In addition to his CSO post at the global communications agency Publicis Groupe, he has also achieved a number of successful projects at other leading global firms such as digital marketing agency Huge and Venture West Consulting.”

His past investment counterparts include Google, General Electric, Samsung Electronics, Unilever, Nike, and HP.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)