WPP announces state leaders under new campus model, and appoints head of corporate strategy
WPP has appointed leaders of its Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane outposts as part of implementing CEO Jens Monsees’ new campus model, Mumbrella can reveal.
Mediacom’s Brisbane MD, Katherine Williams, becomes Queensland’s group general executive and chair of Mediacom Brisbane. Wavemaker’s Adelaide MD, Mat Hofmeyer, is now South Australia group general executive and will continue in his Wavemaker leadership role. And Steve Harris, chair and CEO of The Brand Agency, steps up to the role of Western Australia group general executive while retaining his The Brand Agency position.
“Our campus strategy aims to bring our brands closer together to forge greater collaboration and help us better solves our clients’ challenges. WPP AUNZ’s brands are the strongest on the market,” Monsees said.
Monsees joined from BMW, like his new head of corporate strategy
“We have the country’s brightest minds, best creatives and greatest depth in data and technology. We are excited about bringing people closer together and the opportunities it presents to our clients and our teams.
“By having more of our brands housed in one location in these markets, and reporting to leaders in each campus, we will better utilise the rich and diverse capabilities of our people. In Katherine, Matt and Steve, we have strong, established leaders who know their markets inside out and will help us drive collaboration and growth.”
WPP AUNZ also noted it is working towards implementing campus models in Sydney and Melbourne, and will update the markets on timelines “as appropriate”.
Williams has led Mediacom Brisbane since 2016, joining from Queensland’s Department of Premier and Cabinet. Hofmeyer has held roles within Group M for 15 years, including almost five at Wavemaker. And Harris has worked at The Brand Agency since 1997, leading the Perth, Melbourne and Auckland teams since 2014.
The campus leadership appointments also coincide with the hiring of Monsees’ former colleague Dominik Heitmar into the newly-created role of head of corporate strategy. Heitmar will work with the leadership team to “implement and execute the company’s internal corporate strategy, plus drive strategic initiatives”.
Heitmar worked with Monsees at BMW in Germany
He joins from BMW Group in Germany, where he worked in a digital transformation and strategy role for more than four years. Monsees also joined from BMW Germany, at which he was corporate vice president – leading global digital, corporate planning, and product strategies.
WPP’s new campus model – part of a three year transformation strategy – will see the Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide WPP brands working under one consolidated P&L in an effort to encourage collaboration and joint accountability. WPP said it has been trialling the campus model at its 1 Kent Street Sydney headquarters, with 14 agencies taking part in an 18-month pilot.
After the company posted a full-year statutory net loss of $227.57m, and headline earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) down 8.7% to $91.8m, Monsees told media the model would not impact larger markets like Sydney and Melbourne in the same way. Agencies in those cities will continue prioritising their individual performance rather than that of the entire group.
This week, the holding group also launched Big, a new product development company led by former Landor chief creative officer Giles Day.
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So does that mean MDs of creative agencies report to MDs of media agencies in those markets – and vice versa? What happens with client conflict situations that the structure will inevitably present in those markets?
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Given that Jens himself has only been in this role for 6 months, one can assume that this hire must have been locked in either around the time of his arrival, or shortly after Jens started.
So did he give himself time to assess WPP’s issues, let alone the talent available within WPP, and across the local markets, within those few weeks?
I applaud WPP’s effort in addressing its reinvention btw, I am just baffled by Batman and Robin from BMW as a strategy.
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Where’s the confusion? Jens has worked with Dominik before and clearly trusts him. Bearing in mind he was bought in as a solution to the infighting that is a rampant at WPP and the board wanted a leader who could be neutral it makes perfect sense for him to recruit someone who is also from the outside and therefore doesn’t have favourites already.
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How did it come to this?
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The answers it seems are (a) yes; and apparently (b) who cares.
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