Former Stanley St chief media officer Emily Scovell joins GroupM as chief strategy officer

(Pictured L-R: Christophe Spencer, newly promoted chief product officer; Emily Scovell, incoming CSO; John Halpin, CEO)

GroupM has made a number of new appointments to strengthen strategy and product capabilities in New Zealand. Emily Scovell is joining from Stanley St as chief strategy officer while Christophe Spencer takes on an expanded remit as chief product officer.

The newly created chief strategy officer role bolsters GroupM’s next era capabilities across all three GroupM agencies EssenceMediacom, Wavemaker and Mindshare, offering higher-end strategic thinking to our clients, with a particular focus on digital and data strategy.

Scovell is a proven leader who can cultivate entrepreneurial spirit, drive innovative solutions and deliver growth for teams and businesses. She has spent the past two years at Stanley St, most recently as chief media officer. Before that she spent eight years at Mindshare in London, where she was most recently head of planning. Her international expertise, deep knowledge of the GroupM family and clients, and the local market make her perfectly placed to enhance GroupM’s strategic capability for the benefit of clients.

As chief product officer, Spencer’s remit expands to bring together expertise in data, technology, influencers, performance media, SEO, marketing sciences and consultancy to deliver integrated solutions. This follows the consolidation of offline and online investment under Spencer in October this year. Previously Spencer was chief digital officer, a role he has held since joining GroupM in March 2022.

Says John Halpin, CEO, GroupM: “I’m thrilled Emily will be joining us to take on this new role. She has a knack for connecting the dots between strategy, technology, and communication. She will operate as the key link between what we think and what we do, working seamlessly across our agencies, and in close partnership with Christophe, to drive the development of GroupM’s product and our next era capabilities.

“Christophe is second to none in the data and tech space and in his new role will be able to deliver high-level thinking and solutions to our clients in a critical and fast-paced area. Together, these new roles will strengthen the capability and expertise our agencies have access to and better enable us to deliver on our vision of making advertising better and shaping the next era of media.”

Says Scovell: “The opportunity to come back to GroupM and be part of the mission to shape the next era of media at the same time as making advertising better was too good to pass up. GroupM is on an impressive journey in New Zealand, and I’m looking forward to working with John, Christophe and the rest of the formidable team at GroupM in New Zealand to do some amazing work for our clients.”

Says Spencer: “Our industry is constantly evolving, which means we have to have a constant eye on the future and how we show up to ensure that we continue to deliver best in class solutions for our clients. I’m excited to take on this new role and work with Emily and the team to develop a future-focussed product offering at GroupM that delivers what our clients need now, and next.”

Scovell joins in January 2024. Halpin joined GroupM New Zealand as CEO in July 2023.