OMG retires m2m brand with Hearts & Science launch
Omnicom Media Group’s m2m will no longer exist in the Australian market, as data-driven marketing agency Hearts & Science officially launches in Sydney and Melbourne.
Wendy Gower, m2m Sydney managing director, will remain as MD for Hearts & Science Sydney. Managing director of m2m Melbourne, Richard Smith, will take over the Hearts & Science MD role in Melbourne.
The majority of m2m’s clients will shift over to Hearts & Science, including Hyundai, Audible, Blackmores and Hoyts.
Gower and Smith will report to Jeremy Bolt, who has been officially named CEO of Hearts & Science. Bolt was previously joint chief executive officer of Resolution, Annalect and OMG Programmatic.
Des Odell will retain sole responsibility for Resolution, while Cadreon’s Darren Stein will join OMG’s Annalect in May.
OMG CEO of Australia and New Zealand Peter Horgan said: “Under Jeremy’s joint leadership with Des Odell, Resolution and Annalect have grown from strength to strength in the Australian market. With his combined expertise in analytics, data, and agency management, he is singularly capable of translating the Hearts & Science success to the Australian market.”
Gower added: “Transitioning to Hearts equips us to continue this journey leveraging data and technology alongside new approaches to services and solutions. This will enable us to meet the needs of our clients and their customers better and faster. It’s a very exciting time for the team.”
Hearts & Science was initially launched in New York in early 2016, and now has 24 offices around the world including New York, London, Tokyo, Toronto, Dubai.
By September 2016, the UK office of m2m had closed to make way for Hearts & Science – a history that has now repeated itself in Australia.
Rumours of Hearts & Science’s launch have been around for some time. In 2017, global CEO Scott Hagedorn told Mumbrella the agency would launch in Australia within ‘three to four months’.
When Mumbrella asked OMG about this in light of today’s announcement, it explained: “Scott Hagedorn was out in June 2017 speaking at a conference, and he did mention in an interview Hearts was launching in four months’ time.
“We have always taken the view we would ensure that Hearts was set up for success in the local market before any hard launch, and did have a soft launch of Hearts earlier in order to service global Hearts clients.”
m2m will no longer exist in the Australian market
On today’s news, Bolt added: “While Hearts is already servicing existing global clients in the Australian market, we believe it is the right time to dial up Hearts & Science locally. With the increasing focus and complexity in marketing data and technology, trusted agency partners are well positioned to not only help drive this journey but also to manage and drive growth. It is time we moved from billings to ROI as the scorecard.”
