Andy Bell appointed to lead Together Connect

Following a “serendipitous” conversation with Kris Hadley, Together’s Managing Partner, Andy Bell, formerly of TRACK, has joined the Together team in the new role of Managing Director Together Connect.

With more than 20 years of experience working with some of New Zealand’s largest brands, Bell will lead Connect, the agency’s customer experience management (CXM) and owned media practice.

Together Connect will offer a range of customer focused  CX, CRM, and marketing technology services to clients, leveraging Together’s award-winning data, technology and content teams. The offering reflects the agency’s belief in integrating paid and owned media programmes to maximise customer connection and business growth. Already a Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Google Premier partner, the agency is well positioned to capitalise on what it sees as increasing convergence between the two disciplines.

Bell says he was attracted to the role when he realised he had “unfinished business” in the industry and was curious about combining media agency and customer experience management (CXM) capabilities would make possible.

“The opportunity to integrate the competencies of a CXM agency with a modern, data-driven media agency is one I couldn’t pass up.

“The synergies will enable us to unlock growth for our clients and engineer more seamless, valuable experiences for their customers. And while it makes absolute sense – the legacy separation of these agency disciplines is well past its use-by date – Together is the only agency in Aotearoa today where I felt that it could work successfully. Kris and Rufus created Together from day one with this future move in mind. Connect is not a bolt on, it’s integral to Together’s proposition. Our name says it all.” 

He says the CXM capabilities being embedded within the media agency creates a unique ability to plan and execute journeys across owned and paid channels. “It’s the bringing together of first party data with a focus on connecting with customers wherever they are that’s really the critical thing here.”

As a practice that’s tightly integrated into the business, in terms of both talent and culture, Connect will allow Together to take a truly omnichannel view of media, Bell says. This is different to the more traditional holding company structure where CRM/Direct Marketing agencies and media agencies are separated, making integrated planning difficult.

“It also enables Together to look at channel planning and delivery end-to-end, from path to purchase, all the way through to what happens in-life for customers beyond that. A full customer journey, powered by connected data and technology, delivering a totally connected experience.”

As for the future, Bell says he is looking forward to helping and seeing clients succeed.

“It’s always been about, how do you deliver clients the growth and other success outcomes that they’re looking for. And have that be fuelled by a focus on customers, real customer-centricity. Now I get to do that in a different kind of context. Making the relationship between brands and their customers more valuable to both, that’s the goal for Together Connect.”

Bell’s appointment comes after a strong year for Together, which was named Media Agency of the Year at both the Beacons and Campaign Asia Pacific, as well as IAB Digital Agency of the Year in 2022. His leadership will build on that momentum by further evolving its unique approach to modern media planning and activation. 

“Andy is a world-class talent and we’re thrilled to have him on board,” said Kris Hadley. “We’ve always enjoyed challenging legacy thinking, and we believe the separation between paid media and owned media programmes is one area that’s holding back effective marketing. With an increased focus on ROMI and first-party data use this year, it’s the right time to properly connect these programmes together and unlock even more growth opportunities for our clients.”

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