Caroline Foster Kenny, chief executive of IPG Mediabrands EMEA, has tasked Morris with transforming the agency’s offering in the UK.

Initiative’s headcount has dropped by more than two-thirds in the past two years after the agency lost Tesco’s £90m UK media business in 2015, ending a 20-year relationship.

Morris, who will report to Foster Kenny and Initiative global chief executive Mat Baxter, had only just been promoted to global client president at Dentsu Aegis in January.