GroupM has named Aimee Buchanan as CEO for Australia & New Zealand. She will join GroupM in October to lead the network of agencies including Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence, Neo and m/SIX and specialty media businesses including Finecast, Xaxis and Sightline.
The appointment follows an extensive search locally and globally for the best talent to accelerate and drive our transformation and lead GroupM’s vision to shape the next era of media, where advertising works better for people.
Buchanan has been CEO of OMD since 2016 and sits on both the MFA and UnLtd boards. Her career spans more than 20 years in media agencies. In her time at OMD, the agency has grown to become the largest media agency in Australia and Buchanan has been a leading voice shaping the Australian media landscape and driving progress around brand responsibility and diversity & inclusion.
Aimee Buchanan says: “It is with a heavy heart that I leave my OMD friends and family. I have loved every step of the journey with this team and I am proud of what we have built and achieved together. A big thank you to all of the OMDers across the nation, our clients and partners for all their support over the last 10 years. I am excited to take on the new role at GroupM and believe they are uniquely placed to influence how media drives growth for clients’ businesses and shapes society. I look forward to working alongside the GroupM leadership and the broader team to set GroupM up for a bright future.”
OMD will now begin to search for Buchanan’s replacement, with Omnicom Media Group, Australia and New Zealand CEO Peter Horgan to cover the role in the interim.
“Aimee has made an incredible contribution to OMD in her time with the business. She has been a big part of the successful position the agency is in today, and for that we thank her immensely. We wish Aimee well in her new challenge,” Horgan said.
“We are confident that we have the talent and structures in place for the continued success of OMD and our clients. The Executive team and leadership across all offices is strong and we look forward to the next chapter.”
Under Buchanan’s leadership OMD has been recognised across the industry’s top agency and culture awards. Some of those accolades include B&T Media Agency of the Year 2020, B&T People & Culture and Women in Media Employer 2020. OMD has also been ranked in the Great Places to Work Top 50 for 12 consecutive years (2009-2020).
She has previously been named B&T Executive of the Year 2019 and B&T Women in Media – Woman of Year & Executive of the Year 2019.
Ashutosh Srivastava, GroupM APAC CEO and acting CEO GroupM Australia said: “Aimee is an exceptional agency leader with a phenomenal track record and an intimate knowledge of what clients need, and how agencies and their people thrive. She is a truly visionary leader, whose priorities and integrity align with ours. She is client-obsessed and always puts her people and culture first.
“GroupM’s purpose is to harness intelligence and imagination to create, integrate and scale breakthrough ideas that help businesses leap forward. Aimee is the perfect person to lead GroupM’s ambitious program of change, enable our agencies to succeed and enhance their capabilities to meet current and future client needs and drive faster growth in the business.”GroupM is the media investment arm of WPP AUNZ.
