40 Under 40 2022: Martin Davie, Publicis Media

Martin Davie

Managing director, head of international business
Publicis Media 
Singapore

With a background in the fast-moving ecommerce and performance world, constantly optimising to smash KPIs is Martin Davie at work. Joining Publicis Groupe in 2019, he moved from Australia to Singapore to lead Performics and transformed the agency into a top 10 global market for Performics within one year.

Since 2020, Martin has owned a portfolio three times larger, covering Publicis Media Singapore’s international business—the fastest-growing division that accounts for a quarter of Publicis Media revenues across SEA. In the past two years, Davie has built a unique hubbing model for Publicis Groupe that has an impact beyond Singapore and smashes year-on-year growth KPIs.

Actively involved in new business and growth, Davie successfully led the pitch for L’Oréal’s performance and commerce business in SEA; he scaled the hub model and team design to architect the winning team solution for Publicis Groupe’s PepsiCo media win; developed, negotiated and implemented two new vital regional hubs for Publicis Media Singapore for Meta (Spark Foundry) and ByteDance (Zenith); and repositioned and scaled hub value offering for multiple key clients throughout 2021 and 2022, including Disney and Lenovo ecommerce.

Overall, in the past year alone, Davie has delivered 33% year-on-year growth for international business, representing 47% of Publicis Media Singapore, up from 34% in 2021. He has also restructured Publicis Media Singapore's international business team, elevating key individuals and streamlining processes. Recent survey results show that 86% of employees feel recognised for work excellence.

As a highly regarded leader, this year Davie was selected to represent APAC in enhancing the Groupe's approach to performance capabilities. Together with 19 other global leaders, Davie helped design a new global positioning that has since launched across all markets.

A big advocate of developing and growing talent, Davie has implemented a mentoring programme within the international business division to help junior talent understand the role they play within the agency and the industry and to enable them to explore opportunities to develop their potential further. He also conceptualised and launched the Publicis Media Singapore Performance Community, bringing together performance talent across the Groupe to share learnings, expertise, and innovation and enhance the agency’s overall performance capabilities.

Prior to joining Publicis, Davie began his career in London for an ecommerce technology platform before joining a boutique agency to lead performance media. He moved to Australia in 2011, where he worked for Dentsu Australia's performance arm, iProspect Melbourne and Sydney, and later as general manager for a technology startup across Australia, delivering 155% revenue growth in just 12 months.