Can Commbank combine corporate affairs, marketing? 

When the Commonwealth Bank’s top brass decided exactly a year ago to add the hallowed ground of its corporate affairs unit to the marketing team and its CMO, Monique Macleod, it signalled the start of a marketing hustle in the financial services sector that is still playing out. 

Macleod’s appointment to Group Executive of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Commbank was unusual – Qantas did it with Olivia Worth but the precedents are short and often challenged by more risk-averse, reputation-minded corporate affairs operatives used to their work being more strategic in influence, less overt and less measurable. 

That Commbank threw the Corporate Affairs dice at Macleod from Marketing is a sign the bank wants at least to be seen as doing things differently – the intent could indeed be loftier. 

Marketing historically has been viewed by its peers in corporate affairs as a little light – ‘Scotty from Marketing’ came from somewhere. A year in, Macleod should be getting the measure of her expanded brief and the difference in operating styles between the two frenemy functions: brand management versus reputation management. By design or serendipity, Commbank’s new CMO Jo Boundy was plucked from Qantas, where she worked with Olivia Wirth in a similar dual role to Macleod although Wirth has since moved on lead the Qantas cash cow, as CEO of Qantas Loyalty. Boundy also cut her teeth in corporate affairs before switching top become a career marketer. Commbank’s marketers have a significant lead over their banking rivals in technology, data, AI and customer experience systems because of its much earlier investment in transforming legacy IT infrastructure.         

Westpac winging it

Over at Westpac, the marketing remake has seen it turn to Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and specifically the rich marketing resources of the in-form Kentucky Fried Chicken to replenish its leadership. Westpac’s current overhaul started after its Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Martine Jager left to become head of retail at Bank of Queensland, which is also conducting a marketing overhaul after acquiring ME Bank doubling its customer base. 

Jager’s double role in marketing and digital at Westpac was split after her exit; former WooliesX e-commerce boss Jason Hair was appointed Chief Digital Officer and ex-KFC CMO Annabel Fribence became Chief bBand and Marketing Officer last November.  

Yesterday, two-decade Ogilvy veteran Leigh Bignell, the agency's Managing Partner and Lead for KFC, was appointed Westpac Head of Marketing and Media, replacing Jenny Melhuish, who leaves the bank after more than 14 years. 

Melhuish made the decision to leave the organisation several months ago, it is understood. A spokeswoman for Westpac said she had been a valued member of the team and had stayed to ensure a smooth transition to her successor. 

In a post on LinkedIn, Bignell said she started the next chapter of her career, but will “forever carry a drumstick shaped hole in my heart. I am absolutely busting with excitement to be joining the team at Westpac in my new role as Head of Marketing and Media across the Westpac Group of Brands. Very, very, very excited indeed,” she wrote.  

“But it does mean I must, sadly, bid a very fond farewell to Ogilvy, my home for the past 21 years… I’ll forever be grateful for that experience and those who shared it with me.” 

Melhuish commented: “You’ll absolutely love it, best job at the bank." 

The move brings Bignell and Fribence, previously Asia Central CMO for KFC, back together. Earlier this year, Mi3 reported that Westpac would be cutting up to 90 marketing staff as $8 billion in cost cuts started to bite. The news came three months after Fribence joined. It is understood Melhuish's departure is unrelated to the staff cuts earlier this year. 

More broadly, Bignell’s appointment from Ogilvy to Westpac is another in the migration of agency execs moving brand-side. Current CMOs that made the shift have told Mi3 that shift – and broader experience – can yield better results. 

ANZ, Suncorp marketing mergers 

ANZ’s $4.9bn acquisition of Suncorp carries with it plenty of interest in the futures of the two group CMOs, Sweta Mehra and Mim Haysom. Mehra was a data scientist who took a pay cut and detour into marketing, Haysom a creative agency boss who switched to brand side. Both have been orchestrating reform in their marketing capabilities and talent; Mehra has led a revamp of the bank’s customer experience tech and deployment and an industry-leading professional development program inside ANZ.

Haysom recently scooped coveted wins at the Cannes Lions Festival in June for Suncorp’s work on disaster-proofing home prototypes which have been incorporated into Federal government policy and spearheaded Suncorp’s marketing programs.

What becomes from the merger for marketing is yet to unfold, but the two execs in the spotlight have different but complimentary skills and capabilities if both were to stay. Mehra is seen as the frontrunner for the top marketing job – if she doesn’t move to a new role in the merged entity.

IAG, NAB, Budget Direct

To the side of the big bank marketing hustle is IAG looking to replace its unconventional CMO and former Saatchi & Saatchi New York CEO, Brent Smart, who this month started in the same role at Telstra.

Smart replaces Jeremy Nicolas who was appointed to run Telstra’s digital channels, which account for circa 80 per cent of the telco’s sales and service volumes. It is understood IAG has started an international search to replace Smart.

NAB is hiring too, but not at the very top – CMO Suzana Ristevski has been in the chair since 2018. NAB recently poached the regarded ex-General Manager for Coles Customer Experience, Sujeet Rana, and along with its peers, is overhauling its legacy IT systems and data infrastructure to catch Commbank.

Like Ristevski at NAB, Jonathan Kerr, CMO-turned Chief Growth Officer at Budget Direct’s parent, Auto & General, has some tenure – approaching a decade with the insurer – and is considered in-form without the baggage of legacy bank transformation programs.     

Perhaps most instructive for the new crop of financial services marketeers is that despite warnings of imminent disruption, the big banks have so far seen off fancied fintech start-ups – three of the four leading so-called neo banks have fizzled. The new mission is an old one: shore-up existing customers and prospects and repel new raiders. 

There is much to play for, and seemingly, more to play out.