A year is a long time in sport, as is the case in business. In 2023, Initiative was flying, scoring a 9 in last year’s B&T Agency Scorecard. 

The agency had cleaned up at the MFA Awards, secured more than $100 million in new billings and successfully defended one of its largest accounts–WA Government.

Fast forward a year and the mood music changed. Initiative had the type of mid-season transfer saga that top tier clubs dread. Chief executive Melissa Fein, managing director Sam Geer and chief strategy and product officer Chris Colter–the famed trio that have been credited with leading Initiative’s success–moved on to pastures new at Accenture Song.

An agency that couldn’t stop winning new business suddenly started losing a few, although some by virtue of global reviews that had nothing to do with the outstanding work of the Aussie team.

Amazon was one of these, as too was LEGO, B&T understands both clients were happy with the service Initiative Australia offered. However, other major clients also left, including Specsavers, Online Education Services and Fitness Lifestyle Group (the parent of Fitness First).

During 2024 Initiative retained Amazon Web Services and won Dulux Group and Volvo, but ranked low on COMVergence’s net new business table and RECMA’s COMpitches score for the year.

The agency spent several months in the second half of the year looking for a new leader and a new direction.  They ended up promoting Jo McAlister, a, experienced, popular and highly respected operator, who stepped up to the plate late in the year.

Her first task was guiding Initiative through a transitional period, and in the agency’s own words “setting a bold new direction, rebuilding trust and allowing talent to shine”.

In essence, 2024 was a period of recalibration and transformation on several fronts.

The agency carefully rebuilt its leadership team, largely by promoting top talent from within. This included McAlister (now the CEO), Tom Dodd (CSO) and Megan Davey (head of Melbourne). They joined Geoff Clarke (COO), Paige Wheaton (Chief Investment Officer), Paige English (head of Perth) and Michael Chong (chief data and analytics officer). This group has spent a combined 53 years at Initiative, providing a level of stability and continuity that is rare in this industry. 

The agency also changed its formation and playing style, moving away from a “siloed specialist model, with fragmented workflows” to a “fully integrated eco-system”–think Manchester City in full flow rather than Stoke on a rainy Tuesday night.

Initiative is also overhauling and streamlining its workflow. Machines now carry out a lot of the “high frequency, low value tasks” which removes a lot of the grunt work from lower funnel activity. In 2024, this resulted in machines completing 40,172 tasks and saving staff 26,111 hours (equivalent to 16.3 full-time equivalent staff). 

It’s also important to note that during the year, Initiative’s work didn’t take a step backwards. Yet again the agency cleaned up on the awards circuit with five MFA Awards, three Cairns Crocodiles and seven Festival Of Media Awards (check out the highlights reel below for work that shone). 

In its profile classification, which is a benchmark of media agency performance, RECMA rates Initiative as ‘very good’.

The agency’s Sydney office was also rated as the ‘happiest in Sydney’, according to Media i, with an NPS score of +75. It’s not hard to see why; Initiative runs some of the most progressive HR policies in the industry.

This includes generous and flexible leave policies, outstanding career and personal development programs, regular mental fitness days, fertility funding, and an ‘Emily in Paris’ program that allows team members to work in Initiative offices abroad.

It’s also an agency committed to Ad Net Zero with action rather than rhetoric, and uses a media responsibility index to ensure its supply chain is in check.  

Initiative’s 2024 score reflects a difficult season often compounded by challenges it had little control over.

Nonetheless it has shown admirable resilience and there are positive signs that Initiative 2.0 is already gaining traction in market in 2025. After a year of rebuilding and transformation, Initiative is one to watch in 2025 and beyond.