IAG creates CMO role with the arrival of Saatchi & Saatchi New York executive
IAG has tapped into the global advertising industry to appoint former Saatchi & Saatchi New York CEO, Brent Smart, to the newly-created role of group-wide chief marketing officer.
Brent Smart will take on the new role at IAG after working with Saatchi & Saatchi and BBDO
A former managing director at Colenso BBDO in Melbourne and BBDO in San Francisco, Smart will join IAG’s customer labs division and will report directly to chief customer officer, Julie Batch.
In the new role Smart will have director oversight of the insurance giant’s brands, including NRMA Insurance, CGU, SGIO, SGIC and WFI Australia.
Batch said the move would lend a new level of creative thought to IAG’s brands.
“Brent is recognised as a global creative leader and has delivered integrated marketing campaigns for some of the world’s most iconic brands,” Batch said.
“He brings to the table significant customer and market insights, impressive campaign credentials and extensive experience in fostering creativity in organisations,” said Batch.
Smart’s role will include overseeing all element’s of IAG’s marketing including brand and portfolio strategy, media buying, direct digital media and search, marketing operations and marketing innovation.
He said he believed his advertising industry experience would be a huge asset to IAG.
“What excites me about this role is the opportunity to have a bigger influence on the entire customer experience; working with the impressive data and analytics capabilities IAG has to fuel creativity and innovation,” Smart said.
“I have worked with IAG twice during my career and I’ve seen first-hand they have a great culture and can do great work.
“I feel blessed to have spent 20 years in the ad business. Now I feel I can make a bigger difference in a CMO role, especially at a company like IAG that has big ambitions for its brands and what it delivers for its customers.”
Great hire. Brent will make an excellent client, as do other sought after agency people who make the successful transition to client roles. Many reasons for this much to long to go into but intuition, maintaing consistency & momentum are some key ingredients. Howie being just one such success.
Welcome back Brent.
Richard.
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