Innocean has launched a new media buying and planning capability, giving it the chops to offer end-to-end services for clients.
The new media division will have three foundation clients including Hyundai Australia, Geotab and Sandhurst Fine Foods.
Innocean is part of the Hyundai Group but is not directly owned by the Korean auto giant. Omnicom’s Hearts & Science previously held Hyundai’s media account in Australia. The agency confirmed that the account had moved to Innocean but declined to commit.
Innocean won the pitch for Geotab’s creative, media and brand strategy in July.
Innocean’s expansion of its full service offering into media follows the appointment earlier this year of Kathryn Furnari to the newly created role head of media, to provide clients with media advisory and strategy services within Innocean Australia and the wider Innocean Group offering in Sydney. Furnari will now lead the new media planning and buying offering.
Furnari will work closely with Innocean’s new chief strategy officer, Giorgia Butler, who joined the agency from Nunn Media in May.
Critical to the success of the media offering is Innocean’s fully integrated approach to creative and media solutions. “We are genuinely committed to breaking the industry habit of putting two agencies in the same building and calling it ‘end to end’ – that’s just geography,” Butler said.
The agency is also on a recruitment drive, adding 20 media specialists to its staff, with further senior hires to come.
Hyundai director of marketing and product, Andrew Tuitahi, said: “Effective brand building relies on strong cohesion between creative and the environment it’s in. We believe that having one agency managing our creative and media is crucial to unlock further growth, effectiveness but also efficient for a lean and progressive marketing team.”
Bedir said the move into media was in response to client demand for truly integrated, connected creative and media capabilities.
“This is another transformative year for Innocean as we seek to constantly iterate, change and grow to meet client needs. The move into media signals a new direction for our agency, as the media market continues to rapidly evolve. Our clients have been asking us for advisory services that add to a more rounded dialogue on the ROI for their marketing and advertising investments, and now we can offer an end-to-end solution,” she said.
Butler added: “It’s a dream to be able to offer our clients a truly seamless and cohesive approach to accelerating growth. Under one roof, we now combine the data smarts of media planning with bold creative insights to generate more of the brave, effective and impactful work our clients have come to expect from Innocean. I’m excited to see where we can go with this and so are our clients.”
Furnari said: “We’re proud to be building something very special here; an environment that fosters ideas worth investing in, where media and creative are one team, and everyone has the opportunity to influence not only where campaigns appear but who they reach and how. By integrating media planning, data analytics, and creative execution, Innocean provides a seamless and impactful experience for clients, ensuring campaigns are both strategically sound and creatively inspiring. Our offering is designed to break down silos and bring a more unified approach to campaign development and allows us to create new media moments and do things differently for our clients.”
Innocean will be announcing further senior appointments across the agency shortly.
The news follows hot on the heels of creative boss Wez Hawes’ departure for 72andSunny.
