Rufus Chuter + Kris Hadley launch ‘Together’ strategy, tech and media management agency

| | 9 Comments

Former FCB Media managing director Rufus Chuter (right) and OMD chief digital officer Kris Hadley (left) have joined forces to launch Together, a new strategy, technology and media management agency focused on bringing message and moment back together.

Together integrates communication strategy with marketing technology and media management to enable joined-up communication that bridges legacy agency and capability silos.

Together will offer services both on a consultancy basis and as a lead communication strategy, media and marketing technology agency. With a business model based on thinking not transacting, it will also support marketers seeking to in-house their own media capabilities.

It reflects the convergence of programmatic media and marketing automation, and the need for consumer-centric, not agency silo- or channel-centric thinking. It will capitalize on the increasing automation and in-housing of media buying and demands for greater objectivity and transparency in media decision-making.

Says Chuter: “With technology creating the opportunity for message to match moment, we believe integrated thinking and execution has never been more critical. But too often a focus on the technology, the media deal or arbitrary silos are getting in the way. We want to bridge these divides by bringing connected strategy and technology-enabled execution together, through an operating model that’s genuinely transparent and collaborative.”

Foundation clients include Jaguar Land Rover, for whom Together will be the lead communication strategy and media management partner. The agency will be delivering integrated thinking and media execution supported by a project- based specialist agency roster.

Says Luke Meurant, national marketing manager: “Together’s mix of market-leading strategy, media, and marketing technology expertise delivered in a transparent operating model is the perfect fit for us. They give us the effectiveness benefits of integration while enabling a more efficient creative and content partner model. We’re really excited to have them on board.”

Says Hadley: “We’re thrilled to be working with partners like Jaguar Land Rover. Like us they share a belief in sound strategy, in creative impact not just efficiency and using the right technology to enable strategies to be executed – not the other way around. Their brands are poised for further growth and we can’t wait to go on that journey with them.”

Chuter and Hadley themselves represent a bringing together of market-leading strategic, media and marketing technology skills.

image001.jpgChuter was previously head of strategy and managing director of FCB Media, during which time the agency was named Media Agency of the Year in 2016 and 2017 and won Beacons Best in Show for the last three years. He has led communication planning for many of New Zealand and the UK’s biggest brands, led FCB’s integrated strategy team and has been named the most awarded planning director in the world by Big Won.

Hadley was previously chief digital officer at OMD, where he oversaw the development of the agency’s digital and marketing technology offering as well as driving integration across the group’s specialist business units. His career has seen him uniquely span digital media, marketing automation and direct strategy through periods leading digital for Dynamo and as a senior planner at Track NZ. He’s an active member of the Comms Council Industry Development Panel, IAB Agency Council and Advisory Board member of both MMS and AdTech.

For more information visit www.wearetogether.co.nz.