Omnicom Media Group’s newly appointed chief marketing officer aims to raise the profile of the brand, the backbone of agencies OMD, PHD, Hearts&Science, Resolution Digital and Annalect.
OMG, unlike its holdco competitors, has been relatively quiet in market, leaving its individual agencies take the spotlight.
Now OMG is creating the group's own branding, without overshadowing its individual agencies, says CMO Kim Hamilton.
“OMG is a very successful mega brand but in this market, rightly or wrongly, we haven't talked about ourselves much,” Hamilton said.
“I want to talk about why the backing of OMG makes our brands better - but never in a boastful way. It's just not us and I don't think our clients want to hear that.
“Nothing would take away from the individual brands because the brands already have strong reputations, but it's the power of OMG that amplifies their positioning.”
Areas that Hamilton aims to highlight is the size and scale of OMG as well as its expanding capabilities such as marketing and insights platform Omni and its acquisition in retail marketing capability Flywheel.
While prior OMG’s marketing was spread out across the brands, now the structure is centralised which will see a representative from each agency sit together under an OMG marketing team, with Hamilton at the helm.
“We're bringing the best of the best capability together - it’s not a cost cutting exercise, we're not taking out any roles, we’re adding roles,” Hamilton said.
“We're certainly not trying to homogenise the brands.
“We'll work with the team to get that right and make sure that it doesn't diminish from their individuality.”
While globally the OMG statement is ‘We Transform Experiences’ locally the team is still deciding on how this will be translated in the Australia market.
By centralising, the group will be more intentional about marketing, ensuring there's a clear strategy for the group and each of the brands.
“Each CEO is responsible for the health of their business and so now we are applying another strategic layer to supercharge everything,” Hamilton said.
“Being really intentional with the strategy and where we put our marketing efforts for each of the brands in the group is really exciting.”
The marketing department will have a separate P&L with marketing investments divided among the agencies based on strategy.
How did Hamilton get here?
OMG’s hiring search was cast wide with many client-side individuals putting their hands up for the role.
But Hamilton rained as the perfect choice because, contrary to the norm, prior to starting in adland she held several client-side positions for 11 years across Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and Optus.
She then climbed the ranks at OMD Sydney receiving four promotions across her 11 year stint - as one of OMD’s most passionate employees the choice was a no brainer.
“I certainly wasn't looking for a new role but the more I started thinking about the CMO position, the more energised I became,” Hamilton said.
“I just genuinely love this business, I am so passionate about it, I want to be part of OMD’s future and have a seat at the table.
“Since I first started in agencies the lens I’ve always brought is being able to see things through client eyes, that perspective is why I think I landed this role.”
Since Hamilton hasn’t worked across the other OMG brands, there is alot of learning for her to do but it doesn't worry her - in fact the journey excites her.
“What I know is brand first will always be the strategy, a client is buying the people and the capability that we have in our individual brands,” Hamilton said.
“I've got a lot of learning to do about the ins and outs of all the OMG brands and understand what makes them unique and different.
“But the opportunity is how will OMG supercharge that? Because OMG is the driving force behind all of these brands which we haven't talked about in depth before.”
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