The IMAA, the national, not for profit industry association for independent media agencies launched last year.
Since then it has continued to grow its membership base and make a series of big announcements, including its trade credit deal and a number of new media partners.
Mediaweek has been profiling members of the IMAA – previous features can be found here.
This week we spoke to the director of Mentor Marketing Group Amanda Reid.
After a long career in the media industry, Reid started Mentor Marketing almost six years ago and managed to bring in a team of some of the most experienced and senior media buyers and planners in the Perth market.
“Collectively we have worked across some of the biggest blue-chip accounts in the market and across most categories. The teams experience spans both local and international and the base of the team was always critical and thankfully we have the same team members from when I brought them over initially,” said Reid.
“I think the success of the business has largely been attributed to this team. Being a media specialist agency, I think it was just building on that experience of traditional media planning and buying and then we evolved our offering and skills as channels, platforms and media consumption has evolved.”
Reid said that when founding an independent, the goal was to offer objectivity and an omnichannel planning approach.
“Clients are constantly approached with opportunities from media publishers, all with the preface of being the ‘optimum solution’, regardless of the fact that they are their ‘owned assets’. There has never been a more critical time to have access to a trusted, experienced media specialist as we help clients navigate the complex, ever-evolving media landscape. Given the investment and importance of ‘paid’ media, this is a service that should not be compromised.
“We work really closely with our clients and have always had a passion to do so. We believe in the core foundations of trust and honesty and the ability to challenge each other openly whether that’s clients or challenging ourselves internally or our partners.”
Reid also believes that the last 12-18 months has shown the importance of independent agencies, as their ability to be flexible, swift to adapt and make decisions, has never been more critical or necessary.
“Ultimately when clients’ need you the most you are able to show that true value. That has been apparent for a number of clients in the last 12-18 months, as we all know. At their time of need, they have access to the entire team, senior management and myself as a director and that is the true definition of our model and why it is valued by our clients and more sought after by larger clients.”
The Mentor Marketing team
Clients
Mentor Marketing’s first client was a building company, SSB group, which has been with the company for almost six years now.
The agency has also had several recent wins lately including Amana living.
“We acquired Amana living from a network agency which was great. We also picked up the Megara Property Group which is a property developer with who we are working on a number of projects. We have also gotten Ngala which is a well- known parent & child services client.”
Specialisation
When asked what specialisation that her agency offers, Reid said that not unlike many IMAA members that her agency offers objectivity and independence and a true omnichannel approach.
“We are all about investing in staff, their growth, their education, we have invested more heavily in tech in the last 18 months in tech than we ever have as we start to realise the importance of having those data insights across all channels, it’s now a necessity for all clients and all campaigns.”
IMAA
Mentor Marketing joined the IMAA in March of 2020 shortly after the organisation’s launch and was the first member from Western Australia.
Reid said that Mentor Marketing joined the IMAA because they are passionate about the importance of independent media agencies.
“Having spent time in network agencies obviously there are certain challenges associated with that. The Mentor Model was a passion of ours that we had dreamed of many years prior to setting up. We identified a gap in the market and we’re pleased to say there is a client and partner demand for our offering and that need continues to intensify as clients seek out an objective, holistic media solution.’
“What the IMAA stands for is everything that we stand for. The synergy is so apparent and we are proud to be a member.
“The value and experience have been really positive and the fact that Mentor was the first member from IMAA shows how passionate we are about the cause.”
