To complement its recent expansion into Sydney, Grapeshot has hired June Cheung to lead the programmatic targeting company’s APAC region.

Cheung has spent the past few weeks in Singapore getting acquainted with the Grapeshot vernacular, team and existing clients. She was previously sales director for Big Mobile.

“There’s been substantial demand for technology in Australia, even though we didn’t have someone here,” she told B&T.

“With me joining Grapeshot it supports existing clients having a local contact to ask questions and help them understand the technology even better.”

Noting brand safety was a big issue for marketers now, Cheung said the company’s keyword targeting ability helps target both the positive and negative words to ensure an ad only appears by content that’s positive and brand safe.

For example, there was an unfortunate incident in August last year that saw an ad for Malaysian Airways appear next to an article about the search for the MH370 missing aircraft. In another instance, an ad for cruise company Carnival Cruises appeared next to an article about the multitude of sea sick people on one of the cruises during a storm.

Cheung said it’s particularly relevant in the Asian markets due to what happened with Malaysian Airlines and Air Asia, and for issues such as that they are particularly well placed to make sure ads don’t appear where they’re not meant to.

Of Cheung’s appointment, Grapeshot senior vice-president, Chris Pattinson, said: “In many ways, Australia is at the leading edge of the programmatic boom, and having a physical presence in market presents a huge opportunity for us at Grapeshot.

“Through our work in Asia we have already established successful client relationships within the region, and with Cheung’s expertise and strong leadership, we look forward to developing these relationships, seeing greater growth and a stronger market presence in ANZ.”