In their push for growth in the B2B tech space, award-winning marketing and creative agency MOI Global has made significant new appointments to its leadership team over the past 12 months.
Despite 2020 proving to be the single most turbulent year of many of our lifetimes—MOI saw success upon success. And now, they’re channelling the positive learnings from the past 12 months into their MOI 2.0 growth strategy which the agency launched prior to the COVID-19 pandemic taking hold across the world. This strategy sees MOI committing to major internal changes designed to transform the agency operationally, financially, and creatively.
Having already achieved their 2.0 financial objectives prior to the impact of COVID-19 the agency is continuing to meet – and in fact exceed – its ambitions attracting the some of the best B2B talent to increase headcount to 120, in its drive to deliver more effective, more connected customer journeys the world over, while accelerating their own growth plan.
According to MOI Global MD Matthew Stevens:
We’re reshaping the agency across our global offices. We’re building a culture where people are comfortable open to embracing continual change, supporting a shift towards a creative thinking-led agency which has all the channel capabilities to deliver across the customer journey.
Stevens’ vision doesn’t end there. He continues:
MOI aims to become the leading global B2B agency in tech—and beyond.
To achieve this, we must scale a culture built on our philosophy of Turning Heads, inspiring our people to probe, question, and think in a way that contends with and challenges clients and competitors alike—and delivers exceptional results.
So our focus now turns to taking our platform to the next level. That means excellence in the services we offer, but also continually striving to optimise them with data-driven, digital-first, interconnected minds.
If we succeed, by 2023 we’ll have over 250 employees, which would make us one of the world’s largest independent B2B agencies.
On that rousing note, let’s meet the key players heading up MOI 2.0.
International director promotions
Two prominent personnel transitions were the promotions of Caroline Lotinga from Business Director EMEA to SVP EMEA, and Jonathan Seto from Regional Director APAC to Regional SVP APAC.
Reflecting on her aspirations for the business, Caroline said:
We’ve gone from strength to strength, with incredible talent underpinning our success. We’ve got ambitious plans for the next few years, and that’s why I’m delighted to welcome on board our new colleagues, who will help us achieve these goals, as well as continue to embed our Turning Heads philosophy in everything we do.
And looking to the future, Jonathan noted:
I’m excited to see what the talented rock stars I work with can deliver with these new capabilities—especially after having already achieved so much. It’s going to be an exciting few years for the APAC office, and for MOI as a whole.
New creative direction
In order to evolve MOI’s creative thinking capabilities, Stuart Andrews – a respected brand and creative strategist who brings 20+ years’ experience working with C-level leaders for global brands including Shazam, Cable & Wireless, Barclays, GS1, Extreme Sports Channel, Coats Group and Jaguar Land Rover – has joined the MOI’s global senior leadership team as Creative Strategy Director to act as the interface between the agency’s Strategy & Planning, and Creative thinking functions.
Of the appointment, Stuart Andrews says:
These are exciting times for creative and marketing agencies who are prepared to embrace change, and it has to be said a genuinely exciting opportunity to join an agency and leadership team who are committed to growth in a such a positive way. True creativity in brand and marketing is still rare in B2B, and innovation is often associated with the tech itself, which is why MOI stands apart. Our promise to ‘turn heads’ and our commitment to ask ‘why?’ is what differentiates us. It is our gift, and it’s what will continue to make us relevant. As a divergent thinker, my vision is to develop our Turning Heads process in a way that enables creative thinking to happen and to flourish throughout the agency; and to evolve it into a recognised methodology and product that clients come to us to benefit from.
Joining Stuart to establish and grow the agency’s creative thinking community as Head of Copy and a member of the EMEA Regional Management Team is Pete Stephen, an award-winning creative copywriter who brings over 20 years’ experience heading up creative campaigns for high-profile brands and tier 1 global creative agencies. Pete Stephen will work closely with Stuart Andrews and Neil Leslie – who MOI are pleased to have on board as Creative Director in Singapore for the APAC region – to shape MOI’s Turning Heads offering.
Revitalising the processes
On their operational front, MOI is now led by Steve Pullen, Global Finance Director, and Paul Hadley, SVP of Operations and HR. Together, they are shaping the agency as it scales markets old and new.
Steve’s extensive experience of digital agencies has already proved instrumental in developing MOI’s financial management as the agency both delivers new services and evolves existing ones, including their fast-growing digital media arm. Considering his new role, Steve said:
I wanted to be involved in an ambitious and constantly growing company, not just in the UK but globally, too—and the vision and growth potential of MOI 2.0 made me take real notice. Having helped shape all the financials, including digital reporting at Blowfish Digital and Threepipe, I feel I’m in the ideal position to help MOI develop their digital capabilities, as well as add further specialisms to their arsenal.
Paul boasts a highly successful track record of his own, having helped similar agencies achieve rapid and sustainable growth. He is designing scalable systems for MOI that enable closer, more seamless collaboration, and more effective use of global resources. Paul is clearly delighted with his appointment:
Joining MOI was an easy decision. I was attracted not just by their vision and the challenge of global growth, but also by the strong sense of purpose, evident across every one of their international teams. This kind of culture is priceless, but it’s often diluted by growth—so its presence at MOI is a testament to the effort invested by every employee to hold firm to the agency’s values.
Paul also noted of MOI Global MD Matthew Stevens:
Matt has a clear focus on growing the business, and understands the need to assemble a closely integrated, like-minded management team, capable of bringing cooperation, structure, and scalable processes to the business. This fits perfectly with my own operational experience and specialism. The HR aspect of my role will also see me nurturing and empowering our skilled workforce, as well as developing and retaining future managers and leaders.
Joining Paul is MOI stalwart David Haward, Chief People Officer and Company Director. David has been at the agency for over 30 years, and is now focused on building a culture that attracts, retains, and develops talent from the ground up. Initiatives such as MOI University and MOI Academy signal a clear, prolonged investment in people in order to drive success and inspire Turning Heads creativity.
2020 saw the arrival of Yvo Torrent-Lim, Creative Operations Director. A specialist in video production, Yvo boasts almost 20 years of experience in creative digital roles. In fact, she already had four years under her belt with MOI, having previously impressed the agency in previous roles as Video Producer, Senior Account Manager, and Production Director.
And leading MOI’s global team of martech and digital operations experts is 2020 hire Greg Campbell, Digital Director. Greg is integral to the agency bridging the gap between strategy and tech, and a key advisor on how the customer experience can be operationalised directly into tech.
Fostering new talent
MOI’s changes and arrivals were complemented by Julie Wisdom, SVP Strategy, and Mike Boogaard, SVP Growth. Both joined the leadership team after the agency’s recent strategic acquisition of specialist ABM agency ALIAS, about which Julie commented:
Given MOI’s rich creative history and global footprint, it’s such a natural place for ALIAS to land. The dedication to strategy-first thinking and the Turning Heads philosophy inspires us to work with clients to do amazing things — supporting and transforming brands, creating genuine customer preference and breathing creativity back into B2B marketing.
Also reflecting on the acquisition, Mike said:
The joining of forces—and the resulting global footprint of the ABM Centre of Excellence—allow us to design overarching account-based sales and marketing strategies while easily adapting and executing them regionally, be that in NAM, EMEA, or APAC. For our clients, this leads to more meaningful and high-impact outcomes and, in turn, far higher ROI.
Aspiring to new horizons
MOI’s major restructure ensures the agency maintains the right balance of talent, skills and experience to transform every area of business. Moving forward, their reimagined leadership team is optimally positioned to meet the continually evolving and increasingly omnichannel needs of tech brands and their customers—no matter where they are in the world.
Check out the MOI Global website: https://moi-global.com/
