LONDON—Ged Carroll has returned to London to lead digital for Racepoint Global across Europe.

Carroll joins Racepoint after spending the past year in Hong Kong as Burson-Marsteller's director of digital, social media and interactive.

As Racepoint's VP of digital services, Carroll is charged with developing the agency's creative, owned and paid service offer, building on its existing design capabilities. He reports to Racepoint Europe MD Cathy Pittham.

Carroll told the Holmes Report that the "recognition that paid media is a really important part of the mix" proved particularly appealing. "Public relations is about the relationship that an organisation has with its different publics," he said. "A lot of people still look at it as being media relations. Whatever does the job is PR."

Regarding his decision to leave Hong Kong, he noted that Burson had "gone through a lot of change" in Hong Kong. Last week, the Holmes Report revealed that market leader Matt Stafford is to leave for a senior role with Australian PM Tony Abbott.

Prior to leaving for Hong Kong, Carroll spent four years at Ruder Finn as director of digital strategies in London. His career also includes stints at Waggener Edstrom, Yahoo, Firefly, Edelman and Weber Group, where he first worked alongside Pitham.

Carroll's hire comes after Racepoint parent W2 merged the firm with its sibling Digital Influence Group to create a $34m agency.