IAG has appointed former Saatchi & Saatchi New York boss Brent Smart to fill a newly-created group chief marketing officer role.
Smart will be responsible for brand portfolio management and delivering a marketing strategy that places customer engagement at the heart of the group's brands NRMA Insurance, CGU, SGIO, SGIC and WFI in Australia, NZI and AMI in New Zealand.
His role includes group-wide marketing, such as brand and portfolio strategy, media buying, direct digital media and search, marketing operations and marketing innovation.
Smart will join IAG’s customer labs division in mid-February, reporting to chief customer officer Julie Batch. The division is responsible for IAG’s customer experience strategy, digital delivery and driving data, product, pricing and marketing innovation.
“He brings to the table significant customer and market insights, impressive campaign credentials and extensive experience in fostering creativity in organisations,” Batch says.
“Brent’s skill set will be instrumental in bringing to life our brand positioning and evolving how we engage with our customers in an increasingly digital world.”
Smart brings more than 20 years of creative, brand and content experience. Most recently he led Saatchi & Saatchi’s global headquarters in New York and has worked on some of America's largest accounts, including Walmart and Cheerios, taking the chip brand's first ad to the Super Bowl.
Smart has also held leadership roles at BBDO in San Francisco and Auckland, and spent eight years at M&C Saatchi earlier in his career.
“I feel blessed to have spent 20 years in the ad business. Now I feel I can make a bigger difference in a CMO role, especially at a company like IAG that has big ambitions for its brands and what it delivers for its customers,” Smart says.
“What excites me about this role is the opportunity to have a bigger influence on the entire customer experience, working with the impressive data and analytics capabilities IAG has to fuel creativity and innovation.”
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