GroupM has undergone a repositioning, emerging with a new strategic vision for Australia and New Zealand and an internal culture programme, all falling under the banner of ‘Inspiring Excellence’.
The new tagline is a guiding principle for all GroupM people. Underneath it sit three core values: collaborative, inventive and visionary, which inform GroupM’s approach and attitude.
“We’ve identified three strategic pillars that we’re going to focus on, around our clients, our talent and our technology,” GroupM CEO Mark Lollback told AdNews.
"In a business like ours, we should be reflecting on what's next every 18 months. Our repositioning is part of that."
The overhaul of GroupM's internal positioning will allow the group to get rid of bureaucracy and move faster, Lollback explained. It also aims to better communicate how GroupM supports the agencies within its group, including Wavemaker, MediaCom and Mindshare.
Lollback, who was McDonald's CMO before joining GroupM in 2015, says the firm will always be "ruthless and relentless" about investing in tech and keeping its tech stacks and platforms at the cutting edge.
Internally, GroupM launched a new people and culture initiative, ‘All Means All’ in August of this year.
Mark Lollback
‘All Means All’ houses five pillars with a focus around diversity and inclusion and rolls out across GroupM agencies.
It has PrideM, which is about engaging with the LBGTQI+ community, as well as GenderM, which is about making sure there’s no discrimination around gender.
"GenerationM looks at how do we get more variety across the age and backgrounds of people that we hire. Then there’s CultureM and EnableM,” Lollback explained.
Inspiring Excellence is about what GroupM wants to do as a business and All Means All is about embracing all cultures and actively encouraging those with disabilities to join the GroupM team.
As for the state of industry in 2019, Lollback believes in crafting a strong team and leaning into their expertise and knowledge.
“Get your base right, get your strategy right and then lean into it and invest in it and let it grow versus trying to cut your way to profitability,” he said.
“The industry is not shrinking. It’s certainly changing and the need for different services is changing and we need to dial up, particularly the effectiveness of what we do, to prove back to the boardrooms and to the CEOs.”
GroupM isn't the only adland business shaking up internal cultures.
Initiative has also begun to reap the benefits of its internal transformation over the past 12 months, following a repositioning as a 'cultural branding' agency last year. See the full story here.
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