GroupM has appointed Marc Lomas as managing director to lead and expand its commerce and retail media capability across Australia and New Zealand, supporting essenceMediacom, Mindshare, and Wavemaker’s teams.
He joins the holding company after seven years at Amazon Ads, most recently in the role of head of agency sales in Sydney. He was previously global head of performance for Amazon DSP out of New York.
Prior to Amazon Ads, Lomas was at IPG Mediabrands, leading programmatic and performance businesses, including Cadreon/Matterkind.
Aimee Buchanan, GroupM Australia and New Zealand CEO, said commerce is a “massive growth area and key strategic area of focus” for the group. Retail media is forecast to reach USD$120 billion globally in 2023, while in Australia, it is expected to reach close to AUD$1 billion in 2024.
“We are investing in building out this critical specialist capability to support our clients on their commerce ambitions and navigating the rapidly evolving landscape.
“Marc is an incredible talent in this space, with unmatched global and local expertise. He brings a unique blend of agency and platform experience that will enable us to elevate our strategic capability, whilst also connecting into the vitally importance media ecosystem.”
Lomas brings more than 20 years of industry experience to the role, having worked with blue-chip brands developing performance marketing and ad-tech capability in Australia, the UK, and the US.
He takes on the permanent position after working with GroupM in a consulting capacity to integrate commerce and retail media into GroupM’s offering.
Lomas said he was looking forward to joining the team and expanding the business’ commerce capabilities.
“The evolving landscape of commerce and retail media demands constant innovation, and GroupM’s dedication to this evolution is truly impressive,” he said.
“I’m excited to build upon the team’s strong foundation and deliver transformative solutions that help our clients navigate a rapidly changing landscape and shape the next era of media and commerce.”
GroupM’s commerce capability is comprised of strategy, activation, creative, and data and technology, providing proprietary tools, partnerships, and processes.
Lomas will join GroupM’s executive committee and will report to Buchanan. In addition to essenceMediacom, Wavemaker, and Mindshare, he will also work alongside GroupM’s performance business Nexus, led by Ryan Menezes, and data consulting arm Acceleration, led by Tom Braybrook.
GroupM is also looking to further expand its commerce capability under Lomas with the creation of several new specialist roles.