Ex ninemsn chief Joe Pollard set to take chief executive officer role at Publicis Mojo Australia

Former ninemsn CEO Joe Pollard has been appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Mojo Australia, replacing Nicholas Davie, who is set to depart the agency soon, along with chairman Graeme Wills. 

Effective June 26, Ms Pollard will report directly to Jean-Yves Naouri, Executive Chairman of Publicis Worldwide and will join the Publicis Worldwide Executive Committee (Comex).

Wills and Davie, who both sold their share in Mojo to Publicis earlier this year, will provide support to Ms Pollard to help execute a smooth client transition.

Ms Pollard has had a highly successful track record in leading world-class brands within Australia, Hong Kong, the United States and Japan.  She has been at the cutting-edge when it comes to leadership experience in Marketing Communications, Creative, Media, and Digital.  Pollard worked at Nike Inc. for 10 years and held positions as Global Director of Media, Digital and Brand Content and Chief Marketing Officer of Nike Japan.

For the past three years, Ms Pollard has been Chief Executive Officer of ninemsn.  Under her leadership, ninemsn experienced strong growth in audience engagement, revenue and profitability.  During her leadership tenure, Cudo and Bing were also launched.

In making the announcement, Jean-Yves Naouri said: “Joe has a wealth of experience across all aspects of marketing and communications. Given her time on agency side, client side and recently running the largest digital publisher in Australia, I believe she brings a unique set of skills to Publicis Mojo in helping drive our clients’ business forward. Publicis Mojo is one of Publicis Worldwide most important operations and has always been a beacon in terms of strategic drive and creative leadership. I am very excited that Joe has accepted to take the helm of this unique operation”.

Says Ms Pollard: “I am excited to be taking on this new challenge. Publicis Mojo has an amazing roster of world-class clients who are facing complex business challenges. I look forward to working with them and the entire team at Publicis Mojo in being a key partner to help drive their business success.”