Inside Zenith’s restructured heads of strategy

Ashley Regan
By Ashley Regan | 3 July 2023
 
Sarah Heitkamp and Simon Schoen.

Publicis media agency Zenith, within uncertain economic headwinds and a weak advertising market, is approaching strategy unconventionally.

Unlike most holding groups which have city-based views on clients and don’t often opt for co-roles,  Zenith earlier this year promoted Sarah Heitkamp and Simon Schoen to co-national heads of strategy and planning

“We've seen the challenges that having a singular person in a role can bring,” Schoen said. “Having the two of us with that [smarter thinking] capacity creates an edge beyond general kinds of investment numbers.”

As a result, the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne strategists were combined into one national team. From a capacity level, this gives the agency extra bandwidth and better workload management to solve client problems, beyond standard campaigns and brief responses.

Internally the management restructure has “allowed us to have a holistic view of strategy and foster a culture of sharing across the markets,” Heitkamp said.

The three offices will come together for new business pitches. And if one state is overworked the others will help out, which also provides more growth opportunities for staff to work on a wider array of accounts. 

Externally clients “get better support, better guidance and an even more diverse way of thinking because they have two very senior people helping them on projects,” Heitkamp said.

While Sarah and Simon share the role they don’t necessarily share clients, instead they lean on each other for client advice offering perspectives when needed.

“For example, because I can sense check with Simon, after an almost seven-year relationship with Aldi suddenly there's new things to bring to the table,” Heitkamp said. 

“Which gives clients the best of two worlds - getting that intimacy with someone that knows them quite well, but still getting fresh thinking into the mix.”

Besides staff restructuring, Zenith is innovating amongst - instead of against - macro economic pressures with investments in its in-house research capabilities and measurements. 

This allows the strategy team to not entirely rely on quarterly reports but on “real-time insights showing what consumers are thinking, feeling and doing today and tomorrow,” Schoen said.

“For our retailer or FMCG clients, having that real-time consumer insight from an economic level provides a lot of guidance on making the right budgetary decisions - because the more information they have the better they're informed.”

“Having robust measurement allows our clients to prove to board members the value of - not just the media buy - but really the idea itself and the impact creativity creates,” Heitkamp said.

Who, how and where are clients spending?

While many in the industry have seen some clients pull back spending, this is not a blanket trend. Even in a category that might be going down there are some brands spending more. 

“There are not necessarily stronger or weaker categories, there's a lot of nuance within that,” Schoen said.

It depends on which brand and its category positioning.

“If you're a category leader, you're probably spending even though maybe you might be slightly in decline,” Heitkamp said.

“Or if you're a challenger brand they are often quite well off by investing in these times - because overall market spend might go down so they create more visibility for themselves. It's almost a disproportionate opportunity for them.” 

In fact, the most exciting thing for strategists in this kind of market is that “strategy and big creative ideas can be the real differentiator now,” Schoen said.

Many CMOs, because of the many macroeconomic disruptions in the market, are asking for help when rethinking their brand versus performance budget splits.

“Obviously doing both at the same time creates the best outcomes, but the reality of marketing and media is that spending is limited so we help clients find that optimal balance,” Heitkamp said.

An approach called brand-fueled performance, which finds the optimal level of brand investment that makes performance money work harder, is the go-to for Heitkamp and Schoen.

To help find that balance, Zenith implemented a tool 12 months ago which rigorously assesses a whole array of a brand’s characteristics, including brand maturity, the competitive pressure of the category and how easy a brand is to shop.

One success story of that brand-fueled performance model is Cashrewards, who Zenith has been working with for the last 12 months.

Cashrewards campaign

Cashrewards campaign.

“We flipped their split quite dramatically - it was very performance-led and then we shifted to brand-led. We changed the channel mix, the tactics, and looked at other audiences, really we changed their entire go to market approach," Heitkamp said.

“We obviously had the confidence from Cashrewards and its internal stakeholders to do so because we showed them our rigorous analysis from the tool.” 

Cashrewards saw an increase in awareness, consideration and brand love.

And the brand still achieved the biggest new member numbers they've seen. For example, Black Friday was the biggest Cashrewards has had with its cost per acquisition decreasing upwards of 40%.

However, it's not just the tool that helps clients trust Zenith’s strategy, but it's the care that Heitkamp and Schoen put into their work. 

“Whatever the conversation is - brand versus performance etc - clients need to be taken on a journey and it's not something that can be solved in just one response. Instead, it's important we help our clients navigate the conversation with the right story,” Schoen said.

“The head of marketing probably knows they need to invest more in brand, but they need the right information to tell the right story to their board and their teams to help sell that because the CFO doesn't necessarily believe in brand.”

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