Phil Smith, director-general of advertisers’ trade body Isba, is to step down from his role in mid-2025.
However, he will continue to support the development of Origin, Isba’s cross-media measurement initiative, as he takes up the role of chair of the project.
A nominations committee has been established, comprising Ben Rhodes, Taide Guajardo and Marg Jobling, and led by Isba president Pete Markey, to identify Smith’s successor.
“Serving Isba’s members has been the best role of my career,” said Smith. “I look forward to focusing my efforts on driving the success of Origin and will support the nominations committee in every way I can in finding an energetic new director-general to take Isba as an agent of positive change to the next level.”
Markey added: “We would like to thank Phil for the drive and purpose he has brought to Isba over the last eight years. We are committed to find strong leadership to continue to energise Isba and look forward to working with Phil as he brings to fruition the answer to advertisers’ demand for accountable cross-media measurement.”
Joining Isba in 2017, Smith had previously held a variety of commercial and marketing positions at companies including Kraft Foods and former National Lottery operator Camelot.
Origin developments
Smith has been one of the key architects behind Origin alongside its CEO, Tom George.
2025 will be a key year for the project, and therefore Smith in his new capacity as chair, since Origin will formally launch in the coming months following beta trials that began in September.
High on the priority list is likely to be the use of TV data on the platform. Currently, Origin’s TV audience data does not come from Barb, the UK’s joint industry currency for TV, but from a separate, smaller Kantar panel.
Barb had declined to license its viewing data to Origin due to the latter’s inclusion of non-Media Rating Council-standard viewability measures.
However, The Media Leader reported in November that Barb and Isba were in discussions about a plan to include the former’s data in the platform, with the proposal dubbed the “Covent Garden Protocol”.
In October, Smith appeared at The Future of Media London to discuss Origin’s progress with The Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes, where he promoted the cross-media measurement product while admitting that “change is never easy”.
