Mindshare North America CEO Talks About New Role, Purposeful Media and Agency Evolution

Last week, Mindshare hired Amanda Richman from sister GroupM agency Wavemaker as North America CEO. In 2017, Richman joined GroupM agency MEC from Starcom as U.S. CEO, ahead of its merger with Maxus. This resulted in the creation of Wavemaker. Last year, she led Wavemaker through the upheaval of the pandemic to 4.6% net revenue growth in the U.S., and helped the company gain recognition as Adweek U.S. Media Agency of the Year. So, why did Richman make the move after last year's success? Adweek caught up with the veteran GroupM leader to discuss her transition, the evolution of media agencies, GroupM's commitments to data ethics and what to expect from Mindshare this year and more. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Adweek: What went into the decision to leave Wavemaker for Mindshare? Amanda Richman: It was an opportunity to be part of the GroupM journey as we focused on growing clients' businesses and helping society elevate the conversation around talent mobility. I'm grateful that GroupM has that commitment. At this time, everyone should be thinking about where they can make a difference with representation. We have the opportunity to invest and support minority-owned businesses, get the right messages out at the right time and reach new audiences. Media agencies are uniquely positioned to drive change. Mindshare has a commitment to purpose and thinking of good growth. [We ask:] How do you grow client businesses and their impact on society through intentional media? There’s this notion of growth coming at the expense of the common good, but those things aren’t in opposition. We believe we can grow clients' businesses and also have a positive impact on the world. As a partner to Unilever and others, Mindshare is promoting what they’re doing in DEI, inclusivity and supporting minority-owned media. The Data Ethics Compass, [a tool informing data ethics decisions], is also [implementing a structural framework] in partnership with Unilever, on the ethical use of data to connect with audiences in a privacy-compliant way that is respectful of the consumer experience. New Data Ethics Compass Looks Beyond What’s Simply Legal What can you say about your time with Wavemaker and the agency’s success last year? What have you learned from your time with the agency that will inform your current role? The challenge, and what attracted me to Wavemaker three years ago, was to merge two agencies to create an agency of the future. This would change how we work, move culture and create capabilities. By investing first in our people, we will move work for clients and grow businesses. What are the benefits of joining Mindshare as a leader arriving from another GroupM agency? It’s a seamless transition in these remote work times. I have an understanding of the culture, people and GroupM solutions, having partnered across GroupM agencies. GroupM agencies share a common platform in terms of the operational infrastructure of the organization and how we think about career advancement and mobility. Mindshare Names Adam Gerhart Global CEO What do you view as the challenges and opportunities for media agencies in 2021 and the coming years? One of the challenges for all of us will be the intensity of focus needed for [addressing] challenges in society and business. This is a people business, and we’ll continue to compete for talent while looking at the role of AI and automation [and how to] integrate that into ways of working. The accelerated rate of work today will not be letting up. We need to figure out how we approach that in a way that makes sure mental health is addressed. How do you view the new business outlook for 2021? Will clients be rethinking agency relationships? It’s going to be a busy new business year, with so much put on pause last year. There’s an opportunity for clients and agencies to rethink partnerships and to think how they can work to be more collaborative and agile. Can you speak to DEI initiatives at Mindshare? In 2020, the agency expanded Mindshare Collective [its employee resource group on intersectional diversity at Mindshare] across 16 markets, spanning Europe, South America and APAC. Mindshare and Mindshare Collective have partnered across GroupM and WPP to drive progress in areas like further management and leadership training for Black and LatinX employees, including the launch of the DEI-focused mentorship program Amplify and our commitments to increase Black and LatinX representation in senior leadership. For hiring, they've rolled out new software to detect coded language in hiring manager feedback and job descriptions to counteract unconscious bias and eliminated college degrees as requirements for positions. Can you speak to the importance of consultative services to media agencies? What is driving that and where does it help take the business? Consulting with clients is native to the role agencies play for clients: Being an advisor on consumer behavior and cultural trends impacting their business. We’re now taking that to the next step and looking across the broader business landscape. Bringing that thinking into the board room is a natural evolution of our role. We have the opportunity to bring together the deep capabilities Mindshare has to understand the overall changes in the marketplace with consumer behaviors and the role of technology. [We look at] capabilities across ecommerce and content to consider implications across the industry and how to bring that to life to consult more deeply with clients to solve business challenges. That will not always mean the best approach is led by media buying. While agencies responded to the competition we’re seeing from traditional consultative services years ago and began to build these practices, the pandemic accelerated the role media agencies can play in providing real-time information to help inform decision-making. Having a seat at the table through media dollars brought us into larger conversations around how to drive growth and impact society. The pandemic has helped reshape client-agency partnerships. These clients are leaning into all agencies can offer and there’s opportunity to create new value. Mindshare’s Change consultancy acts as a catalyst for clients, diagnosing barriers to growth. [It has] benchmarks in various areas and brand capabilities, developing an actionable roadmap to drive transformative change across areas ranging from organizational redesign to process realignment to tech-stack audits and corporate-wide digital change management initiatives. How will you approach workplace flexibility? That’s something we’re deeply reevaluating at GroupM to understand the expectations of clients and our people. There will be a degree of flexibility that exceeds what used to exist, considering how productive people have been at home. We need to balance that with a desire for connectivity, rather than have one mandate for all. As we look at the future of work, it will be more tech-based and hybrid where and how people work. Flexibility will become a competitive advantage for agencies, which also translates to bringing in jobs to people in other communities: Geographic diversity, economic diversity, flexibility for parents and reengaging people who have left the workforce—women in particular.