Aileen Lamb succeeds Bridget McCarney as MD of New Media, of which McCarney is now the CEO, both effective 2 April.
Lamb is taking the reins at such an exciting time in media. "Multimedia is exploding and there are so many new ways and opportunities to reach audiences," she explains.
“We have a massively talented workforce at New Media, and helping to move that talent into all these new spaces is beyond exciting for me. And to lead such a beautiful company; that’s a hell of a thing. It’s a dream role,” she went on to say.
Aileen Lamb
Here, Lamb shares how she plans to take the agency forward, explains the power of storytelling, and tells of her perfume hobby…
When and why were you promoted to MD of New Media?
We believe it’s important to have consistent succession planning, so after 10 years working alongside Bridget, who’s been MD for 16 years now, I’m taking over her role on 2 April (I’m not starting on April Fool’s Day!).
What does your new role entail, and how does it differ to your previous role as GM of New Media’s Consumer Division?
Previously my role was to develop the food and retail hub within the Consumer Division of New Media. Now my mission is to grow the business as a whole, evolving it into a truly digital agency. We’ll be focused on our specific areas of expertise and spheres of knowledge, which will grow not only our revenues, but our audiences and offerings as well.
Comment on the agency’s growth strategy, and how you intend to drive it.
We’re going forward with an aggressive growth strategy. We’re already realigning the company into our core centres of knowledge rather than business units. Thanks to our consumer titles, we have some of the best editors in South African media, who have enormous expertise in their niches. Organising the company around this kind of specialist knowledge allows related brands to tap into consumer-orientated teams who know before anyone else what’s happening in their fields. I believe this hyperfocus will be a competitive advantage.
Why content marketing?
Because brands are realising that sharing stories with their customers is far more effective. We are experts in storytelling, it’s our heartbeat. We’re constantly telling brand stories in new ways, on new platforms, which is why we, thankfully, have such long relationships with our clients.
What has been your most noteworthy learning in the space?
The annual content plan of the past is gone. We’ve moved from months to moments—nothing is fixed or forever. So we’re constantly innovating around how to deliver content, to whom, and when best to do it. Audience desires are constantly changing. We have to monitor how content is working in the moment and adapt it in real time. It’s a new world—it’s moments! That’s tremendously exciting and enormously challenging. The old agency model doesn’t work anymore; things are evolving too fast for it.
What have been some of your most exciting projects, and why?
One of our most exciting projects recently is producing daily content for the country’s largest retailer, Woolworths, and distributing it across 24.com. We’ve pioneered that space, and now other brands are looking at daily native campaigns.
