FCB New Zealand announces Consortium founder and CEO Paul Shale as its new CEO

FCB New Zealand has today confirmed the appointment of Paul Shale to the position of CEO, FCB New Zealand.

Shale joins FCB from Roadtrippers Australasia, the GPS-tourism martech division of US corporate TH2, where he was CEO. Prior to his position with Roadtrippers, Shale was founder and CEO of Consortium, an Auckland based marketing services agency.

FCB global vice chairman, Bryan Crawford, felt the future of FCB New Zealand would be in excellent hands under Shale’s leadership. 

Says Crawford: “Paul is a high achieving business entrepreneur and his experience in senior NZ management roles in several advertising multinationals including Publicis and BBDO, including founding his own agency are outstanding credentials to lead FCB New Zealand.  He is creatively driven and has a really good understanding of the NZ psyche. I’m excited at what Paul will bring to the table, to build on the agency’s continued success.”

Shale founded Consortium in 2003, an agency that was based on a freelance and agile model that employed skills and expertise by project, as well as having full-time staff serving the more traditional advertising clients. Consortium achieved local and international renown for the innovative creative work for 42 Below. The overall communications strategy was a significant driver in the very successful business trade sale of 42 Below in 2006.

Consortium was also engaged by AUT University to help prevent its University status being revoked. AUT became the fastest growing NZ University for several consecutive years with a focus on degree and postgraduate students, and Tertiary Education Commission requirements were achieved years ahead of deadline. In 2010 Shale was recognised as one of 10 key contributors to the University with an AUT Decade Award (2000-2010).

Consortium also delivered breakthrough work for brands including Spark, Yahoo!Xtra, Lightbox, BigPipe, iHug, Charlie’s, Sony, Methven; and through its New York office for Behance, Sara Lee and Ito En.

Says Shale: “It’s a thrill and privilege to join FCB. They are known for their extraordinarily talented people in Auckland and Wellington and have delivered consistently outstanding results for New Zealand’s leading brands. Along the way they have created truly unique IP that will accelerate client performance in 2019 and beyond. Given perceptions of the ad industry and FCB’s results, breadth and depth of talent you’d expect some arrogance to have crept into the culture, but it’s refreshingly absent. I’m proud to be joining an agency that genuinely cares for their people and clients, practices authentic integration across disciplines, and is driven by a mandate for diversity and ethical business.”

Shale will start with the agency in early February.