New Zed Media Boss Aims For Double Digit Growth Next Year
ZenithOptimedia’s commercial director, Greg Grimmer, has been appointed as managing director of Zed Media, the group’s digital and direct agency, filling the shoes of Jeff Hyams and predicting strong growth over the next year.
The move will see Grimmer head Zed’s operations as it moves to become more powerful with an increased client focus and increased strategic communication services. Grimmer currently manages three of Zed’s largest accounts, HP, MBNA and Zurich, although his new position will see him drive the company forward to acquire many more high-profile business wins.
Commenting on his appointment Grimmer said: “Zed at the moment is a great business, it’s got big grown up clients like HP, UIP and Zurich and I think it’s the most dynamic part of our business, it’s certainly the fastest growing division in our group and there is lots of great work being done there already. On that basis I feel extremely privileged to have been put in charge of it!”
He added: “ZenithOptimedia will probably put on around 4% in revenue over the year, which we are over the moon at, but if I don’t achieve double digit growth with Zed next year I’ll be extremely disappointed. The traditional media agency sector is now very mature and extremely competitive, whereas I think we’re still ahead of a lot of our major rivals in the fact that we put direct and digital together so we’re in really good shape.”
Zed recently won business for several online product launch campaigns, including those for UIP’s Shrek 2 and Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason (see Bridget Jones To Take Over Wanadoo Homepage). The decision by more companies to run launch campaigns online is one that Grimmer is particularly proud of, claiming that it puts more confidence in digital media as a powerful communication medium.
He said: “Some of the most creative digital accounts there are in the UK are BMW and UIP, and from the work that Zed have done for UIP this year for the launch of Shrek 2 and things like that, they are interesting as everyone else is concentrating on response rate and we were able to use the web as a real launch media.”
Grimmer explained that, as someone who has grown up with the internet, he is able to see the real power of digital campaigns, a market which Zed is perfectly placed to exploit. He said: “When I first started work it was either TV, press or post. Then this thing called the internet turned up, and having grown up with that, and it is interesting to watch how we debate about all of these other media, while every media planner at ZenithOptimedia will probably spend more time on the web than consuming any other media!”
Zed Media: 020 7298 6970
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