Former IPG Mediabrands chief Mark Coad has joined Hatched Media as a part-time senior adviser.
Coad, who also works as a consultant with his cousin Andrew ‘Billy’ Baxter at 24 Hour Business Plan (24HRBP), told B&T he would provide strategic advice to help Hatched Media grow.
“This is a business that’s in growth and they have plans to grow a lot more,” he said.
“There’s some areas around the business where I can bring expertise in how we strike the right structure and shape of the business, how we apply AI automation to various parts of the business where some of that growth is going to come from, and how I can help their leaders and the rest of their teams.”
Coad will spend about half of his working week with the Hatched Media team in Windsor, Melbourne.
Coad has spent the majority of his career at holding companies. He was a pivotal figure in establishing OMD in Australia, and then led PHD a few years after it launched.
More recently he has been at the helm of IPG Mediabrands as ANZ CEO, working in tandem with APAC boss Leigh Terry, before the pair became the first high profile casualties of Omnicom’s takeover of the business late last year.
It is not the first time Coad has worked at an indy; earlier in his career Coad worked at Total Media before it was absorbed by Young & Rubicam (Y&R).
At Hatched Media he reunites with chair Mike Wilson, who he previously worked with at the agency Media Edge; Coad was the GM of Melbourne and Wilson the GM of Sydney.
“Mike and I go way back, we’ve travelled the world together,” Coad recalls.
“I’m loving working at Hatched so far. It’s refreshing and they have got a nimbleness to them, a free spirit and the people here are great.
“I’m looking forward to focusing on that rather than some of the ‘fun’ of the inner workings of some of the larger groups to be honest.”
