IPG Mediabrands ramping up offering in Perth with appointment of Clive Bingwa
Bingwa
IPG Mediabrands is set to expand its offering in Perth by introducing specialist communication units after appointing former 303Lowe national media director Clive Bingwa as managing director of its office there.
Bingwa had been with 303Lowe Perth since March 1999, finishing up with the agency in October last year after nearly 16 years and said he was lured to the new role by “the opportunity to drive media harder in this market.”
IPG Mediabrands in Perth already has media planning and buying agency Initiative and search specialist agency Reprise fully operational, and intends to launch its full suite of specialist business operations there this year, Bingwa said.
“IPG Mediabrands has had phenomenal national growth and Perth that has had some sensational growth largely driven out of its main local business Initiative.
“Essentially the market is in a real transitional phase over here in that what we’re seeing is clients wanting joined up thinking and what we’ve got is a specialist model. Some people might do mobile over there, some people might do search over there, some people might do performance or optimisation in another corner. At the moment they don’t communicate together to deliver results,” Bingwa explained.
“As far as Perth is concerned, effectively what our plan is to introduce these specialist communication units to drive effectiveness with clients as well as to look for new comms and channel opportunities for our existing clients and new clients.”
However Bingwa said IPG has no plans to introduce the 0ther media agencies such as UM or BPN.
“The market is fairly well serviced from that side of things. The priority at the moment is to introduce the full suite of specialist business units at the moment as opposed to additional agency proposition,” he said.
“We will be bringing those services out as they currently sit in those individual categories – Reprise, Cadreon, Ensemble – all the specialist areas will be operating under the direct IPG Mediabrands label.
There were “no plans to supply creative at this point in time,” Bingwa added.
While creative agency Ensemble will be introduced in Perth, it will be focussed on providing activations for clients rather than providing traditional creative after being repositioned as a full service creative outfit in August last year after creative agency Airborne was folded into it.
“You never say never on the other ones, but focusing on first things first it’s a case of delivering the services the market needs.”
In terms of building the team to service the businesses, Bingwa said “it will be a measured approach”.
“Effectively sitting with IPG all around the country are some amazing resources, Henry [Tajer, executive chairman of IPG Mediabrands Australia] has afforded me the opportunity to tap into whatever resource I need and some of the resource is extraordinarily specialist so we will need to look to other markets to drive some of the specialist services and where appropriate we will be putting people on with the right qualifications.
“It is a co-shared resource agreement in terms of tapping into specialist skills and backfilling with additional hires in Western Australia,” he added.
In a statement, Henry Tajer, executive chairman of IPG Mediabrands Australia, said: “We recognise the opportunities for WA-based marketers to broaden both the geographic reach of their communications and also the combination of media channels they are using.
“Clive is a very talented channel and brand communications strategist who is highly experienced in the capabilities and effectiveness of the many channels available to brands. We have ensured that he is fully immersed in our Group’s skill sets and how to apply them to the Perth market.”
Initiative managing director Chris O’Keefe is speaking at Mumbrella Perth on February 25 on the topic of attracting and retaining talent. Click here for more information.
Miranda Ward
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
Linkedin
“larger media agencies like BPN”?! Is BPN bigger than Initiative?
User ID not verified.
Well done Clive!
User ID not verified.
Great hire Henry.
Bingles – congrats on the new gig!
User ID not verified.
Clive – please contact your local representative. Ha ha..
User ID not verified.
Congrats Clive!
Always superstylin’!
User ID not verified.
Congrats Clive.
User ID not verified.
Great hire MB
User ID not verified.
well done CB
Kev in Broome would be proud
User ID not verified.