One year ago, Publicis Communications chief executive officer, Arthur Sadoun, laid out his plans for the creative networks and production company – Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis Worldwide, BBH, MSL Group and Prodigious – that had been gathered together under his wing.
These included the formation of a global creative board, led by Leo Burnett global chief creative officer, Mark Tutssel, and a group of nine (one or two leaders from each of the networks) called the Global ComEx.
Publicis Communications has also been making changes to its top tier throughout the world. Those changes have now been made in Australia and New Zealand.
Michael Rebelo (pictured above left) is appointed chief executive officer for Publicis Communications ANZ, in addition to his current responsibility as chief executive officer for Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and New Zealand. He will report to global chief operating officer, Loris Nold. His focus will be to drive transformation and ensure that global and local clients are given full access to the Groupe’s expertise, talents and resources across Publicis Communications.
Michael Rebelo commented, “Creativity remains one of the great accelerators of driving transformation in business. I’m looking forward to working with our Publicis Communications teams to deliver this for our clients across Australia and New Zealand.”
Andrew Baxter (above centre) becomes chairman of Publicis Communications in addition to his current responsibility as chief executive officer of Publicis Worldwide. He also reports to Nold and while continuing to drive growth for clients, will focus on collaboration with other Publicis Groupe solutions hub, including Sapient Inside and the ramping up of Prodigious.
Andrew Baxter added, “CEO’s, CMO’s and CIO’s want agency partners to help them solve big and small problems in a multitude of different ways. And that means agency leaderships teams need to be unencumbered by old systems and processes, so we rally our teams to do the right thing by the brand every single time. That’s what’s exciting about these announcements, and I’m looking forward to working with Mike and Melinda on delivering that for our clients.”
Melinda Geertz (above right) will take on the newly created position of chief executive officer for Leo Burnett Australia. Under Geertz’ leadership, Leo Burnett Melbourne has become one of the best agencies in Australia and in the world. She will work with Rebelo to continue to grow the agency across Australia and ensure the right connectivity between the Melbourne and Sydney operations, led by Pete Bosilkovski.
Melinda Geertz stated, “I’ve spent years focused on building Leo Burnett in Melbourne with my wonderful colleagues, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved. And now I have the opportunity to work more closely with Pete and our amazing Leo Burnett Sydney team, who are a creative force to be reckoned with. It’s a dream job. Together, we have so much talent and firepower, and I’m excited about what lies ahead. I’m also looking forward to plugging into the group’s broader capabilities – for the good of our clients.”
Sadoun commented, “Australia and New Zealand are key markets for Publicis Communications; these appointments will allow us to further harness the Power of One to deliver to all of our clients seamless end-to-end solutions that draw on our world-class expertise and resources, no matter where they may be located. I know I can count on Mike, Andrew, Melinda and the teams to accelerate on the great momentum they’ve already been building through the recent wins of Tiger Beer global, H&R Block, Caltex, Spirit of Tasmania and Betfair, to name just a few.”