DDB Group Aotearoa amplifies social offering

AUCKLAND, Thursday: DDB Group Aotearoa has announced the formation of DDB Group Social, a consolidated team comprising social specialists from across its four agencies – DDB, Mango, Track and Tribal.

The collaboration across the group strengthens the agency’s social capabilities, offering enhanced social solutions for existing and prospective clients.

The announcement also includes the promotions of Zoe Virtue to head of DDB Group Social and Sam Snowden to head of DDB Group Social Strategy. Together they will lead the social powerhouse to deliver market-leading work – leveraging the collective team’s strengths in production, creative and social strategy. 

Zoe Virtue steps into the new role after four years with the agency. She says the group social team has evolved from the demands of clients, who increasingly view social as a vital component of their marketing.  

“DDB Group is already a powerhouse in the market and now we’re stepping up our game by leveraging all the exceptional specialist social talent right here in the building. This will not only provide an opportunity for upskilling but also ensure social is front and centre, right from a campaign’s inception. With a newly formed team, and refined processes, we’re looking  forward to bringing our social media prowess to all our clients,” she says.

“The plan includes the promotions of Zoe Virtue to head of DDB Group Social and Sam Snowden to head of DDB Group Social Strategy.”

The decision to integrate the group’s social teams also stems from strong growth across the different agencies within the group. In a relatively  short space of time Mango Communications has grown from one to three social specialists, as has DDB, with Tribal also seeing “huge” growth in social specialists.

Sam Snowden said: “The pandemic transformed social media and its importance to a brand’s relevance, paid media schedules and integrated marketing strategy.

“DDB Group Social will allow clients to tap into cultural trends, short-form video techniques, social strategy and best-in-class social creative that performs in all through-the-line campaigns and always-on placement.”

The newly integrated team will consistently nurture a strong connection to culture while staying ahead of trends and techniques. Its specialists are committed to enhancing the agency’s always-on and responsive social strategies  as it happens, saying that content can be captured, created and published within two to four days.

DDB Group ceo Priya Patel said: “We’ve been working on consolidating our social specialists from across the Aotearoa agency and we’re super excited to finally bring together  such a broad range of skills to further ramp up our social offering.

“The team is stoked about getting together to ensure we deliver top-notch creative work for social media in every single campaign we tackle.”

About DDB Group Aotearoa
DDB Group comprises of DDB Aotearoa, Track (customer, data, CRM), Mango (PR, experiential, social influencer), Tribal (digital) and Interbrand (strategy, design).

• ddb.co.nz