Ross Sergeant, the global media director at Allwyn, has resigned from the multi-national lottery operator. His last day will be 12 March.
The Media Leader understands Sergeant already has another role lined up for after his departure.
In a message to The Media Leader, reflecting on his time at Allwyn, Sergeant called it “an amazing company” and said that “we have all achieved so much growth together”. However, he said he “wants to do something new, bigger and more challenging”.
He continued: “I am extremely passionate about our industry here in Britain and hugely proud of the British media brands that we produce.”
Sergeant joined Allwyn in 2023 after it won the UK National Lottery contract the year prior. Before that, he worked as global head of media at Japanese beverage company Asahi.
Earlier in his career, he served as a strategy partner at WPP’s media agency, Wavemaker, and also worked for Omnicom and WPP in his native South Africa.
A staple at The Media Leader and other’s events, Sergeant has become known as an outspoken critic of the conventional wisdom around media buying. When asked at Cannes last summer whether marketers are better at their jobs today than before, Sergeant flatly stated, “No, I absolutely think that we are worse marketers.”
“I think we have been confused, misled, misguided,” he continued, lamenting that businesses too often take as gospel models of measurement that have large margins of error.
“Marketers need to be more confident in their approach and more honest about what they don’t know,” he urged.
In the past, Sergeant has further criticised marketers for misinterpreting Binet & Field’s conclusions about effectiveness, noting the limitations of the 60-40 rule between long-term brand building and short-term sales activation.
Marketers should embrace honesty, says Allwyn’s Ross Sergeant
