IMANZ debuts inaugural partner showcase

AUCKLAND, Today: Last night, IMANZ members, media partners, and industry friends gathered at the Maritime Room in Auckland to explore collaboration opportunities between media partners and New Zealand’s indie agencies.

Over 30 IMANZ member agencies attended, supported by 18 partners, including LUMO, Allied Press, Mediaworks, Metservice, SKY, Blis, Stuff, Go Media, StackAdapt, IAS, Meta, TVNZ, JCDecaux, NZME, TikTok, LinkedIn, oOh!media, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

IMANZ also announced Sean McCready, co-founder of MBM, as Executive Mentor to the IMANZ Leadership Team. Sean will mentor five senior leaders from IMANZ to build working groups focusing on training, compliance, technology, research, and networking.

“The talent, creativity and ambition in this slice of the industry is huge and our partners clearly recognise that.”

Kath Mitchell, IMANZ General Manager, says the event showcased the energy and potential of the indie sector, despite IMANZ being operational for less than a year.

“The fact that we launched in just June last year, and last night had an event with more than 30 member agencies, drawing the attention and support from most of New Zealand’s biggest media players and platforms tells you something about the scale of opportunity that exists in indie agencies collaborating.

“The talent, creativity and ambition in this slice of the industry is huge and our partners clearly recognise that. And being able to announce our collaboration with Sean McCready, who has been on the indie journey in an incredibly successful way and has so much knowledge to give back to the industry – it’s a further demonstration of what happens when indies come together with a collaborative mindset.”

Mitchell says last night’s partner showcase was the first of many. IMANZ has a busy calendar with events, webinars, and knowledge-sharing opportunities planned for members and partners in year two.