Vizeum New Zealand has promoted Richard Hale to the role of agency director, where he will lead the day-to-day management of the agency and, “in keeping with Vizeum’s dedication to senior resource”, will maintain hands on leadership across all key clients.
Vizeum New Zealand has enjoyed a flurry of growth with local new business wins over the past nine months including Red Bull, Huawei, and Universal Pictures NZ. Existing clients include Pernod Ricard, Nissan, DKSH and JB HiFi.
Speaking of Richard’s promotion and Vizeum’s recent success, Rob Harvey, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network NZ said,
“I’m hugely proud of what Richard and the Vizeum team have achieved over the last 18 months,” said Dentsu Aegis Network NZ ceo Rob Harvey. “The agency started life with a few people and a handful of clients and has since established itself as strong player in the local market winning business and doing great work for their clients.
“Richard has been instrumental in this success and his promotion is a natural next step and is well deserved. Expect big things from Vizeum in this market as they match the agency’s industry leading global growth [the RECMA named the group as the world’s fastest-growing media network].”
Richard Hale said: “We’re really proud of the growth the Vizeum global network is enjoying; but we are equally proud that we are matching that growth trajectory here in NZ. That growth rate is helping us scale the business, to the point where we have tripled head count in the last year, with the ambition to do the same over the next 18 months through continued focus on creating value through innovation.
“With that in mind, I am personally excited to be part of the Vizeum story and at the same time am fortunate to be part of a network with such great momentum behind it. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in the near future.”
Across the 16 global agencies assessed by RECMA, Vizeum increased activity billings year-on-year by +29.1%, over 9% more than the second ranked agency.
About REMCA
Founded in June 1991 in Paris, RECMA claims to be the only independent company to publish a wide range of media agency notation reports on a global scale. The mission of RECMA is to provide strategic intelligence reference tools to help the top 500 global advertisers in their decision-taking and agency sourcing. RECMA collects and analyses data from more than 880 media agencies and 640 digital agencies in 50 countries.
About Vizeum
Part of Dentsu Aegis Network, Vizeum was launched in 2003. In an increasingly connected and convergent world, Vizeum’s vision is to be its clients’ most innovative partner. The agency achieves this through two guiding principles – adopting the 70/20/10 model of innovation management and a mantra of ‘Simple strategy, brilliantly activated’, turning ideas into valuable business solutions. All of which is underpinned by our bespoke research tool, CCS, real-time reporting and our unique Dentsu Aegis operating model, delivering integration without compromise.
Facebook today announced that Stephen Scheeler, currently Australasian head of retail & automotive at Facebook, is the new Sydney-based managing director of Facebook Australia & New Zealand. Scheeler, already in his third year at Facebook, will take over the role immediately and will report in to Dan Neary, vice president, Asia Pacific, Facebook.
“I’m a great believer in the Facebook culture of hiring great people and growing their careers throughout the company,” said Neary. “Stephen has been a remarkable leader and key part of the established and successful ANZ team.
Scheeler will work closely with key brands, agencies and clients to drive their business results using Facebook’s family of applications and services. 11 million people in Australia and 2 million in New Zealand use Facebook each day, more than any other site in these markets. Every day thousands of businesses also use Facebook to advertise to current and potential customers and use Facebook’s apps and tools to grow their businesses.
“There has never been a more interesting time to be in our industry,” Scheeler said. “The pace of change and opportunities to innovate are phenomenal. We have an amazing team here at Facebook, a strong roadmap and a fantastic suite of apps and services. I couldn’t be more excited about the next part of the journey.”.
Scheeler is a seasoned industry strategist, with a background in start-ups, retail, telco, consumer packaged goods marketing and automotive retailing, having previously held senior marketing and innovation roles at Westfield, Lion and Subaru. He also spent time with Deloitte Australia as a management consultant working with range of industry sectors and clients.
2degrees CMO Malcolm Phillips, a key figure in the telco almost since Day 1, has resigned to take up a new lifestyle in the Waikato.
He says the move is to bring his family closer together, and he will be looking at business opportunities when he gets there.
He leaves 2degrees in November. Meanwhile, the company has started a search for his replacement.
There’s a good interview with him here
Bangalore-based InMobi, which claims (with some justification) that is “the world’s most powerful advertising platform”, has appointed Travis Plane as head of business development, driving partnerships with InMobi’s key partners, including publishers, platforms and internet companies across the ANZ region.
Jon White, InMobi’s regional director & general manager, says the role is crucial in helping to deliver scale for their local operations in Australia and New Zealand. “Currently InMobi delivers 8.7 billion ad impressions per quarter to mobile websites and apps across Australia and New Zealand – with mobile data traffic growing at more than 40% per year, strategic partnerships will enable us to make the most of the enormous opportunity that mobile advertising provides, for us as a business and for marketers in the region.”
Plane brings considerable experience across the technology, gaming and media space. His roles have included chief marketing officer at Quickflix and media group head at OMD. He joins InMobi from Surprise Attack, a successful indie games label start-up. He’s also held senior roles with gaming company THQ and was marketing director for Sony Computer Entertainment.
White says it’s Plane’s gaming experience that most interested InMobi. “He fits the InMobi culture. His gaming background shows he works well in a rapidly developing industry, where devices and behaviours are constantly evolving. It has parallels with the mobile advertising space.”
Plane describes the move as a natural progression for his career. “I love being at the forefront of change. There’s no doubt that mobile advertising is a key part of the future. The personal attachment we all make to our devices makes it an unrivalled medium for brands. My job is to ensure InMobi takes full advantage of the opportunity, working with companies who share a vision of how mobile will change the marketing world and who can help with creative ways of meeting that demand.”
- Contact him at travis.plane@inmobi.com
- InMobi is represented in NZ by Auckland-based sales manager Charlotte Bell Charlotte.bell@inmobi.com
- www.inmobi.com
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