Publicis Mojo announces Joe Pollard as new CEO
Former ninemsn boss Joe Pollard has been appointed as the new CEO of Publicis Mojo Australia, replacing Graham Wills.
The move sees a return to the marketing world for Pollard who has been on a career break since leaving ninemsn last year.
Her previous roles have included chief marketing officer of Nike Japan. Earlier in her career she spent time in media roles at JWT and Mindshare.
The move was announced by Jean-Yves Naouri, executive chairman of Publicis Worldwide. She will report directly to him.
Her appointment comes after Mojo mostly missed out on the Qantas pitch, with the bulk of the work being shifted across to Droga 5.
The announcement:
Joe Pollard has had a highly successful track record in leading world-class brands within Australia, Hong Kong, the United States and Japan. She has been at the cutting-edge when it comes to leadership experience in Marketing Communications, Creative, Media, and Digital. Pollard worked at Nike Inc. for 10 years and held positions as Global Director of Media, Digital and Brand Content and Chief Marketing Officer of Nike Japan.
For the past three years, Joe Pollard has been Chief Executive Officer of ninemsn. Under her leadership, ninemsn experienced strong growth in audience engagement, revenue and profitability.
During her leadership tenure, Cudo and Bing were also launched.
In making the announcement, Jean-Yves Naouri said, “Joe has a wealth of experience across all aspects of marketing and communications. Given her time on agency side, client side and recently running the largest digital publisher in Australia, I believe she brings a unique set of skills to Publicis Mojo in helping drive our clients’ business forward. Publicis Mojo is one of Publicis Worldwide most important operations and has always been a beacon in terms of strategic drive and creative leadership. I am very excited that Joe has accepted to take the helm of this unique operation”.
In taking on the role, Pollard said, “I am excited to be taking on this new challenge. Publicis Mojo has an amazing roster of world-class clients who are facing complex business challenges. I look forward to working with them and the entire team at Publicis Mojo in being a key partner to help drive their business success.
As previously announced, Graeme Wills and Nicholas Davie will continue to provide their support to Joe to help execute a smooth client transition.
Publicis engaged the services of Hourigan International, the specialist Creative Leadership search firm to undertake a comprehensive global search, resulting in the selection of Pollard.
Pollard will start on June 26, 2012
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
Joe is an excellent leader with a good mix of creativity and commercial acumen. Good appointment.
User ID not verified.
Nice of Yves to announce it to the press before the staff.
User ID not verified.
This is great news! Joe P is a class act and a natural fit for a role like this.
User ID not verified.
Well done Jo, all the best
User ID not verified.
To me @3.15 pm – I think you are a bit unfair to ‘Yves’ (although his name is Jean-Yves). It was announced at an “all hands” meeting at 3pm and this article is times after that. And to all others, yes, Joe has a terrific reputation and should bring some great things to this new role!
User ID not verified.
@not me. I was in the “all hands”. It started a bit after 330. this post was emailed around Mojo before the meeting even started.
Also, I reserve the right to call JV, or anyone i’m bagging out, whatever i want. It’s part of that whole ‘mocking’ thing.
User ID not verified.
Congratulations to Joe – a very popular appointment.
User ID not verified.
@notme, in fact, i just remembered that i made the original comment before i went into the meeting with your mate Yvesy.
User ID not verified.
What a great hire. Welcome back tot he industry Joe.
User ID not verified.
Well done Joe. Congratulations.
User ID not verified.
Any bets on one or two more senior departures soon? As long as the door is open…………………………
User ID not verified.
Nicholas Davie was CEO. Not Greame, he was Chairman of Publicis Mojo.
User ID not verified.
Joe is an amazing operator…..intuitive, smart & on the money. She will drive that organisation forward as she did @ ninemsn.
User ID not verified.