Publicis ANZ’s creative and media chiefs on the increasingly blurry lines of agency disciplines

The world of advertising has always thrived on innovation, with visionary minds and ground-breaking campaigns shaping the industry’s landscape. Think Bill Bernbach, whose work revolutionised the art of storytelling in ads, and of course, David Ogilvy, who emphasised the importance of strategy in creativity. Both continue to inspire generations of admakers. Today, this push towards innovation isn’t just confined to creativity; media, data, and technology have become the driving forces behind some of the most impactful work in the industry.

In this context, the camaraderie between Publicis’ Dave Bowman, chief creative officer for Australia and New Zealand, and Imogen Hewitt, chief media officer of Publicis Groupe ANZ and CEO of Spark Foundry ANZ, makes sense. Speaking exclusively to Campaign at this year’s Cannes Lions, Bowman and Hewitt unpack how media and creativity have evolved to become inseparable in today’s advertising landscape.

Bowman, who returned to agency life after nearly six years at Google, has a unique perspective on how the convergence of media, data, and creativity has changed the landscape. As Google’s head of creative in Asia-Pacific, Bowman led the partner innovation team, tasked with making Google’s technology more accessible and engaging across the region. His earlier stints at Special Group, TBWA, and Saatchi & Saatchi grounded him in the traditional agency model, but his time at the tech giant marked a turning point in his approach to advertising.

“Returning to an agency setting, I can see how the lines between media and creativity have blurred,” Bowman explained. “When I was at Google, the focus was on how technology could enhance creativity. Now, media isn’t just the channel for creative ideas—it’s part of the ideation process itself.”

Sitting against the backdrop of a rain-drenched French Riviera, Bowman reflected on this year’s Cannes Lions, noting how distinctly different the atmosphere felt—especially in the evolution of purpose-led work. This year, he observed, the focus seemed to shift toward measuring tangible impact, with the industry finally recognising that purpose-driven campaigns must extend beyond creativity, delivering real-world results and fostering meaningful change.

“Purpose for impact’s sake is genius,” he noted. “And in many instances, these businesses that have their own purpose are fundamental to thriving economies in the countries from which they come. It’s been a challenging time for many of those economies, so if you can get both those things to happen simultaneously, I’m enormously enthusiastic about the future of the industry. It also excites me from the perspective of the kind of talent this approach attracts.”

Hewitt echoes this sentiment. With over two decades of experience across media and creative agencies, including The Campaign Palace and Naked Communications, where she held senior roles such as head of communications planning for Australia and managing partner for Southeast Asia, Hewitt has seen the power of data-driven insights transform the way campaigns and brands are judged. In 2020, she joined Publicis as CEO of Spark Foundry, and in December 2023, she took on the role of chief media officer for Publicis Groupe, where she partners with the media agency CEOs to ensure their continued growth and development of our client offering.

For her, the greatest shift has been the realisation that data is key to truly measuring impact. "Purpose and creativity can only go so far without something to back it up. To Dave’s point, we need to see the results, and data provides the framework to quantify those results, making these efforts tangible,” she said.

Data, she notes, can often give creative work the substance it needs to stand out. “There used to be a creative naivety about staying in a specific lane,” Hewitt recalled. “But over the last two decades, that aperture has widened. The most successful work starts being fuelled by data, operating in media environments in radically different ways and breaking patterns from previous years. Today, it’s not just about the creative idea but how everything—data, media, and technology—comes together to make campaigns perform better and have more impact.”

This integration has also helped to break down traditional silos within agencies. Bowman reflects on this shift, noting the growing crossover between categories such as social, influencer, PR, data, direct, and B2B. He points out that awards juries are increasingly acknowledging this evolution, recognising that the lines between disciplines are blurring. “What stood out was how many campaigns were successful across multiple categories. It’s becoming quite difficult to distinguish between what is a media idea and what is a creative idea,” he observed. “We’re getting to a place where cross-discipline thinking is thriving, and it’s delivering outcomes far better than any one discipline could achieve alone.”

Publicis Groupe has been steadily evolving its model to reflect this more integrated approach to advertising, having moved towards a single P&L structure that collapses traditional silos between creative, media, and data. In January, the Groupe updated its expertise structure in ANZ with a triumvirate, appointing Hewitt, Bowman, and Maurice Riley, chief data officer as part of its 'craft expertise structure'. This change is intended to reflect Publicis’ ‘Connected Platform’ model, which aims to streamline collaboration across disciplines and deliver more comprehensive solutions for clients. The integration enables teams to address complex challenges from multiple angles, ensuring clients receive a holistic service.

However, while this cross-discipline approach has delivered clear benefits, the convergence of creative, media, and data under one structure isn’t without its challenges. Some in the industry have raised concerns that such a model could dilute the individuality of distinct agency brands, leading to more homogenised output. Bowman acknowledged this potential risk, noting that it ultimately depends on the strength of the creative process and how well the teams are integrated.

“It really comes down to how well we bring people together. The essence of each brand’s philosophy has to remain intact, and that’s where leadership is essential—to make sure the integration doesn’t come at the cost of creativity or individuality,” he said. Additionally, he stressed that ensuring the balance between collaboration and maintaining distinct perspectives is critical to producing unique, high-quality work for clients.

Bowman highlighted that the collaboration across creative, media, and data aims to reduce overlap and duplicative efforts. “We have one country P&L that we report. And that is a huge thing for me creatively because it doesn’t just say, ‘could you guys help each other out, please?’ It says, we need to be successful as a group. You will need to be successful as individuals and certainly as individual brands, but there’s a massive incentive for people to make it a great, momentous, and impactful year together,” he said.

Hewitt shared this forward-looking view, noting that while ANZ has consistently demonstrated its influence on the global advertising stage, there remains room for further growth. “I reckon creatively, we have years that go up a little, down a little, but as two countries, we are always right at the pointy end,” she reflected. Despite the region's small scale compared to other markets, both Bowman and Hewitt agree that ANZ continues to make its mark, often ranking highly at global events like Cannes.

Hewitt also pointed to a certain "restlessness" within the creative community in ANZ—a drive to continually push boundaries and achieve even greater things. “There’s always that regional pride,” she noted. “I don’t think the hunger for innovation or the desire to be world-class will ever leave this part of the world.”