It has been a standout year for Zenith. It was Australia’s top media agency for billings growth in 2023, increasing billings by 33 per cent in an advertising market that shrunk by 2.7 per cent.

Led by captain Jason Tonelli, the agency won some cracking accounts, notably the huge Adobe account. It also won the accounts for lululemon, Modibodi, Temple & Webster, Aldi and retained Disney, another major account for the ROI agency.

The Publicis Groupe agency added new business billings north of $100 million and its RECMA quali score has increased by 15 points in the past three years, placing Zenith second in RECMA’s quali score index for vitality.

Zenith picked up two Festival of Media medals for its “SubDog” campaign. Other standout work included Cashrewards’ “YAY” media moments, which helped lift awareness by 9 per cent and consideration by 11 per cent, reversing a membership decline. 

A video campaign for Kellogg’s CocoPops across 7plus revitalised interest in the cereal brand, and a City of Melbourne media and PR campaign reached more than 3 million people, driving attendance to an arts festival to reach 148,000, well above target.  

The agency’s success is built on its “ROI-cubed formula,” which consists of insight, imagination and investment.

This success translated into salary increases and promotions, with 54 team members promoted in 2023, while its turnover rate was reduced to less than half of the industry average.

The agency’s Next Generation Board program was launched in 2023 to prioritise a positive workplace culture, and has “driven new ways to approach the industry’s tough problems”. A diverse group of people across six capabilities, five levels and three generations, were chosen as part of the Board.

Team captain Tonelli, was appointed executive sponsor for the Publicis Groupe ANZ EnABLE committee, supporting people with visible and non-visible disabilities.

Zenith embraces flexible working hours under the Publicis Liberté model, which allows employees and their manager to customise start and finish times. In addition, Zenith also has a policy that internal meetings cannot be held before 10am and after 3pm to allow those with personal and family commitments to better manage them.

Zenith has had a stellar season and stands proudly on the media agencies podium for 2023.