The assignment covers both Italy and international markets and the appointment is effective from May 2012. MEC is a founding partner of WPP’s GroupM.

The new appointment was motivated by the Lavazza’s need to speed up their internationalization process and therefore needed the support and activation of a major global agency.

Media Italia retains the business in Italy until April.  Lavazza would like to thank Media Italia for their great professionalism and reliability during these years of close collaboration.

Ricky has been with MEC for four years and steps up from his post as Digital Trading Manager for Sydney into the newly created role, taking responsibility for all digital trading activity across the MEC teams in Sydney and Adelaide. He will also sit on the GroupM digital trading council.

Both Ricky and James will work closely with MEC Chief Innovation Officer Peter Grenfell and Search Director Alex Hancocks.

“Ricky's new role reflects the ever-increasing importance of digital to our business across display, social, video and other platforms,” Grenfell said. “His knowledge of the sector and effervescent personality makes him the perfect person to drive this forward for us and ensure we have strong publisher relationships that deliver the best value and results for our clients.” 

In his role as Search Manager, James will work alongside Search Director Alex Hancocks to help grow the agency’s Search department. He makes the move to Sydney from full-service UK agency Coolpink, where he spent two years as Paid Media Manager, helping grow the digital team from one to six people. At Coolpink, James was responsible for all online paid media activity, including PPC, affiliate marketing, shopping comparison and email marketing.

“James’s appointment and Ricky’s promotion are further demonstration of MEC’s commitment to provide our clients with a completely integrated offering, with great people at the heart of our agency.”

This is the second major hire by CEO, Matthias Brüll this year.  He also brought Christian Kaessmann (Managing Director of Client Service Management) to MEC in January.

Karin will be responsible for all of the company’s Analytics and Insight in Germany and Switzerland and will be charged with developing the team and their resources.

Matthias Brüll, MEC’s CEO said, “Analytics and Insight is of great importance to our business and for the optimization of communication and data-management ROI for our clients.  With the arrival of Karin, we are delighted to have a very experienced leader join us with such a fantastic  digital background. "

Karin Rothstock was formerly Head of Research & Analytics at TOMORROW FOCUS, and has many years of experience in research, both with media owners as well as on the agency side.  The 32 year old is also an active member of numerous associations.

She will be based in New York and report to Rachel Israel, Managing Partner in MEC’s Global Solutions team. In this new role, Dallia will be responsible for developing and driving integrated communication planning on the Marriott International account.

Rachel Israel commented, “I am truly delighted that we have recruited Dallia for this position on Marriott International. Her technology expertise will be an asset to MEC and to our clients.”  

“I’m excited to join the Global Solutions team in New York, working on one of the most recognizable global brands, and being part of Marriott‘s first global media agency network,” said Dallia Herrtage.

In 2011, Dallia joined the agency’s UK office and was responsible for managing integrated media programs for Lloyds Banking Group and Bourjois. Prior to joining MEC, Dallia served as Account Director at MPG, UK, working for clients such as the BBC, YSL Beauté, Magners Irish Cider, Admiral Insurance and Wonderbra. Before that, Dallia worked as Account Manager at Mindshare, UK, where she developed and implemented media programs for Jaguar and Argos.

Dallia graduated from University of Manchester with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Social Sciences.

In this new role, he will be based in New York and report to Mason Franklin, Managing Director of Engagement Planning. Kristian will be working across clients in the agency’s Global Solutions group.

Mason commented, “I’m delighted Kristian has chosen to join the engagement planning team in New York. He’s made terrific contributions to MEC’s clients in Europe and I know his international perspective, creativity and insight will help us build increasingly effective communication strategy and engagement ideas for both our U.S. and international clients based out of the United States.”

“I look forward to joining Mason and his team and accelerating MEC’s strategic and creative abilities even further. New York is the cradle of media and advertising and any marketers dream. I am truly excited to join the Global Solutions team and deliver business value for our long list of great clients.”

In 2005, Kristian joined MEC in Copenhagen and co-founded the agency’s strategic and digital offering, “Since Twenty Ten” (STT), where he led a diverse team ranging from anthropologists, client managers, communications strategists, art directors, copywriters to flash designers. STT’s mission is to provide true value for people and brands through branded services, utilities and content platforms. Prior to that, he worked as Communications Planning Director at MEC, where he focused on insight development and analytics and communications strategy on the key accounts such as Dodge, Estee Lauder, Honda, IF Insurance, Kraft Foods, Mercedes, SAB Miller, and more.

Before joining MEC, Kristian served as Account Manager at Brandhouse in Copenhagen, Denmark. During this time, he led and developed award-winning national and international campaigns for clients such as Pfizer, Siebel eBusiness Solutions and Alfa Romeo. In the beginning of his career in advertising and media, he spent time honing his craft at Mediacom and Grey Communications Group in Copenhagen.

Fitness First is the world's largest operator of fitness clubs with over 440 Fitness First clubs in 15 countries.  In Germany, they have over 80 Fitness First clubs with over 250,000 members. 

Matthias Brüll, MEC’s CEO said, "We are delighted that we will be working with our Dusseldorf neighbours, Fitness First.   We convinced them with our suite of tools and our expertise in integrated communications planning.  Our team and their brand managers connected really well and we know that we will bring much enthusiasm to the account.”

Women are half the population and control the majority of disposable income in their families, as they are often the principal purchaser of groceries and daily necessities. In China, many women also make purchase decisions for their parents and in-laws. In the past, they shopped in brick and mortar stores. Nowadays, 44% of women in tier 1 and 2 cities and 23% of women in low tier cities also shop online. The research from MEC uncovered that in terms of per capita spend on e-shopping in the past year, women in low tier cities, who spent an average of RMB 1757, were only RMB 339 behind the spend of their tier 1 and 2 counterparts.

China’s geography is massive and its middle and affluent classes are spread out all over the country in pockets of growth and wealth.  However, the reach of physical stores of big or international brands is often limited to large, urban cities.  E-commerce allows marketers to break out of the limiting reach of brick and mortar stores to satisfy the needs of consumers all over the country.  Broadband Internet is now available to approximately 90% of the population in China, providing a widespread foundation for the development of e-commerce. Credit Suisse forecasts that China’s e-commerce would reach RMB 2, 703 billion by 2015, accounting for 6.7% of retail sales.

MEC’s research was taken from three waves (2007, 2009 and 2011) of GroupM Knowledge’s Project Deep Dive (PDD) survey data to look at online shopping behavior of women living in tier 3 and tier 4 (provincial level cities, county level cities and counties) markets, with a focus on skincare and cosmetic products.  The 2011 wave alone covered 583 low tier cities and a sample size of 3800+ women.

More Chinese women are getting into online shopping. Although the rate of increase of the penetration of online shopping in low tier cities are not as high as tier 1 and 2 cities, the former still boasts a 77% increase, moving from 13% penetration in 2007 to 23% in 2011. The Internet is a source of information for 56% of females in tier 3 and 4 markets, providing them with more details about brands and their products. Although they are still quite traditional, with 62% of women saying that traditions and customs are most important, 73% believe it is important to keep on learning new things.  In terms of impulsive purchase (39%) and desire to be trendy and modern (52%), their scores are even higher than their tier 1 and 2 counterparts. With these mindsets, their willingness to buy imported brands and trust well-known brands also shows an increase of 120% and 62% respectively.

While the users of online shopping in low tier markets tend to be younger, mainly from 20 to 29 years old, the users of tier 1 and 2 cities have a broader age range, from 20 to 39 years old. The rate of increase of the online spending power of women in low tier cities (146% increase since 2009) is faster than those of tier 1 and 2 markets (45%). Women from low tier cities also spend a higher percentage of their monthly household income on e-shopping than their counterparts in tier 1 and 2 cities (2.3% vs. 1.8%). All these hint at the huge potential of e-commerce in low tier markets. The top three online shopping categories are apparel/shoes/bags, skincare/cosmetic/perfume and daily household consumables.

Looking at skincare and cosmetic products, female e-shoppers use more of these two categories of products than females in general (13% and 25% more respectively), putting them close to the usage rate of women in tier 1 and 2 markets.  This is especially true in cosmetic products. While slightly less than one-third of females in low tier markets use cosmetic products, 52% of female e-shoppers in these markets use them.  This usage rate is only 2% lower than their tier 1 and 2 counterparts. A look at brand awareness shows that female e-shoppers in low tier markets have a higher awareness than females in general. The ranking of the top 5 brands in terms of brand awareness is similar between low tier cities and tier 1 and 2 markets. Having a good online shopping platform on top of the already widely established brand awareness will give these brands a big competitive advantage.

Online shopping as a distribution channel can offer huge potential for marketers. There are many implications:

Offline and online channels and platforms are intertwined

Consumers tailor their usage of offline and online channels and platforms based on availability, immediate needs, size of shopping list and convenience in terms of time spent or geographical distance. Offline and online should no longer be seen as standalone silos, but should be treated as integral components of a single business model. The key is to drive traffic from offline to online and vice versa as consumers move along the purchase pathway.

From e-commerce to social commerce

Social commerce refers to the use of social strategies to anticipate, personalize and energize the shopping experience. Chinese consumers are very social in their purchase process. They want confidence in what they buy from their friends, and insight from their community. They are prolific reviewers and readers of online product reviews. As this evolves, the marketing mix will likely be more and more driven by consumers. Marketers need to use new ways to sense and shape demand.  The role of brands is to be consumer’s friend and mentor, forging emotional linkages with consumers.  Brands can also create conversations with consumers and provide them with materials to talk about in the social space.

Building trust

The issue of trust is central to building an effective, long-lasting online relationship with consumers. This is especially true for the China market, as consumers have an underlying wariness of fake products being sold online. Reviews and recommendations from friends and fan communities serve to alleviate some of the distrust. However, there are multiple facets of consumer trust online, such as product quality, Internet safety, efficiency, return policy, warranty etc.  Success for any e-commerce player in China involves tackling the various components affecting trust along every step of the purchase pathway.

Mobile strategy

70% of female online shoppers of low tier cities use their mobile phone to access the Internet at home, so a mobile strategy to offer convenience and flexibility is necessary. The mobile strategy should be integrated into the e-commerce and communication plan via the use of gamification, augmented reality, social couponing and mapping/geospatial technologies etc.

Theresa Loo, Strategic Planning, Analytics and Insight Director, MEC China said: “The vast number of female consumers and their control of the family’s disposable income give them lots of leverage over a brand. As more female consumers from low tier cities go e-shopping, marketers without an online shopping strategy are going to miss out. The challenge is to redesign the shopping experience across channels and platforms to provide a truly customer-centric purchase experience.” 

The announcement was made by Stephen Li, CEO for MEC in Asia Pacific.

The appointment is effective immediately.  Raj will remain based in Singapore and will report to Stephen.

In his new role as CSO, Raj continues to be the agency’s most senior strategist, and as such will have a very important impact on MEC’s most important clients and new business prospects.  He will also head up product and product development for APAC regionally and locally.  Both the Analytics & Insight and MEC Interaction competencies in APAC will report to him.

Raj has been with MEC for eleven years, starting his career at TME Australia as a planner and leaving Sydney as Director of Strategic Planning. As Regional Planning Director, Raj has been involved in the communication strategy on clients such as Accenture, Citi, Chanel, Colgate, Campbell’s, Energizer, Mercedes-Benz, Singapore Airlines, and Sony to name but a few.

Commenting on the appointment, Stephen Li said, “There is truly no-one in the region who knows us, our product and our clients better than Raj.  And few who have a stronger belief in the power of strategic thought leadership.  As someone recently said to me - "Raj has the biggest brain in the region"...and I could not agree more. It was a really easy decision to name him as our new CSO.”

Raj Gupta said, “This is truly an honor.  We have such great opportunity and potential in this region, along with a fantastic heritage and some of the most talented people I’ve worked with in my career.  It’s an amazing company with a collaborative network that constantly drives great product and innovation.  I look forward to exciting times ahead for MEC across Asia Pacific.”

MEC North America, a leading global media agency (www.mecglobal.com), has this year continued to attract the brightest talent in the industry with key senior executive additions and promotions, announced by newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of MEC North America, Marla Kaplowitz. These include:

Dennis Donlin joined MEC North America as President Team AT&T. Dennis has over 30 years of media and creative agency experience and previously served as EVP, Managing Director of Mediabrands. Prior to that, he was the founder and President of GM Planworks at SMG. He is sits on the North America Executive Committee, and is also responsible for driving MEC’s strategic product in the region.

Michele Pauchuk joined MEC Canada as President and reports to Marla. She brings over 20 years of industry experience and most recently served as EVP, Managing Director of Initiative. Since joining, Michelle has announced Dave Crammond’s promotion to Senior Vice-President, Managing Director of Trading and Operations, reporting to her. Dave joined MEC as Media Supervisor in 1992 and was named Head of Trading in 2008. Michelle also promoted Tracy Bellamy to Vice President, Managing Partner of Connection Planning, where she is responsible for developing MEC’s product and strategy across all clients, driving integrated planning and delivering Active Engagement in Canada.

Julia Jones joined the agency as Managing Partner, overseeing the Colgate Palmolive account in North America, based in New York. She reports to Eamonn Store, President of Global Solutions. Julia has logged over 15 years of media and creative agency experience and joined from Initiative.

Abby Spatz joined MEC North America as Managing Partner, leading the agency’s Chanel account in the US, focusing on integrated media and marketing. She reports to Eamonn Store, President of Global Solutions. Abby has over 15 years of industry experience in advertising, media, sponsorship, digital marketing and partnership marketing, having also worked at eBay, Hilton Hotels, American Express, Momentum Worldwide and McCann-Erickson

Courtenay Harry joined the agency as Senior Partner, Planning Director, where she is responsible for Pepperidge Farm’s strategic media planning – part of the agency’s Campbell’s Soup business. Courtenay reports directly to Beth Egan, Managing Partner, Account Director for Campbell’s Soup. 

Rick Acompora joined MEC as Managing Partner, Account Director on a number of clients, reporting to Marla Kaplowitz. He joined the agency from Zenith, where he worked as SVP, Group Planning Director on clients such as Nestle, Sonic and Merial. 

Christine Stack joined MEC as a Partner, Director of Senior Talent Acquisition, reporting to Michelle Guglielmelli, Managing Partner, Human Resources and Talent Management.  Christine is responsible for the creation, development and delivery of effective strategies for attracting and retaining senior level talent to MEC.

JP James joined the agency in July as Director of Engagement Planning for AT&T, reporting to Dennis Donlin.

MEC continues to invest in digital leadership for its MEC Interaction team including the following senior hires and promotions:

Jitka Petrickova joined the agency as Managing Director, Digital West and is responsible for leading the application of innovative new digital strategic approaches, consumer insights, tools and digital technologies across the agency’s client base on the West Coast. Previously, Jitka was Managing Director at SMG and brings over 18 years of media and advertising experience across the U.S., Hungary, the UK and the Czech Republic.

Cathy Salazar has been promoted to Senior Partner, Practice Lead of Search, and Kristine Segrist, becomes Managing Director of Social. Kristine previously led the Search team and has been with the agency since 2002. Cathy joined MEC in 2009 as a Group Director of Search Advertising.   

Amy Elkins joined MEC as Partner, Digital Director and reports to Jeff Killingsworth, Managing Partner and General Manager of the agency’s LA office. She has over 11 years of filmed entertainment and brand management experience with an expertise in digital strategy. 

Derek Bhopalsingh joined MEC Canada as VP, Managing Partner of MEC Interaction, where he is responsible for MEC’s digital product and offer across all platforms and leads the agency’s action leadership in emerging platforms in Canada.

Precision uses data licensed from Kantar Media’s DIRECTView^TM service, one of the nation’s largest audience measurement services, to accurately identify Hispanic consumers based on their TV viewing behavior. This data is then overlaid with their product purchases through an exclusive algorithm created by MEC Bravo, enabling the agency to create precise Hispanic ROI models and to determine the impact on sales of Hispanic communication plans.

Kantar Media’s DIRECTView provides anonymous audience viewing behaviour from satellite television subscribers nationwide and enables the measurement of the entire spectrum of live and time-shifted audience viewing behaviors across more than 350 channels.

Gonzalo Del Fa, Managing Director of MEC Bravo, commented, “This is a revolutionary tool for the Hispanic market. It’s been a challenge for all of us in the industry to accurately identify Hispanic consumers and understand their purchase activity. With this new tool, that won’t be a problem anymore. By offering valuable and comprehensive insights on the role that media plays in the purchase pathway, this will allow us to target Hispanic audiences in a more impactful and addressable way.  And this will be invaluable to our clients.”