We identify the audiences and cultural moments that matter most, using them to unlock meaningful growth for your business.
We take a holistic approach to planning, bringing together audiences, channels, platforms, and partners to deliver the right mix of activity that meets your KPIs.
We create and optimize brand storytelling that resonates with people, ensuring your brand connects at every stage of the consumer journey.
Our performance specialists work hand-in-hand with our partnerships team to deliver full-funnel strategies across biddable media—maximizing your return on investment.
We design seamless commerce experiences by reducing friction, personalizing interactions, and driving conversion through a deep understanding of customer journeys.
We use data, research, and analytics to uncover cultural insights, spot audience opportunities, and guide smarter investment decisions.
We manage the day-to-day execution of your marketing with a focus on safety, compliance, and performance, so your business results are amplified.
Blair has over 20+ years experience, most of which have been at FCB Media, the sister agency to Initiative – both owned by IPG.
FCB Media has consistently been the most awarded media agency in New Zealand, winning over 50 Gold Beacons, including four Best in Show awards, and a global Warc Grand Prix in 2021 for Best use of Data.
The agency has also secured some of the country’s largest media accounts including One NZ, Chorus and The Electoral Commission.
In 2023, Blair had the bold vision to launch Initiative in New Zealand to challenge what he believed was a stagnant agency market. The move couldn’t have been more successful.
Just months later, Initiative’s challenger energy and Fame and Flow philosophy were key to winning ASB in a highly competitive pitch.
Blair has a passion for insight and strategy, which he believes is fundamental to drive effective solutions in todays’ cluttered landscape.
He had vast experience working across retail clients including some of the biggest retailers in market - One NZ, Foodstuffs and Mitre 10.
With over 10 years’ experience, Chris has built a career around relentlessly pushing for the magic space where science, creativity and innovation meet to make everything work harder, smarter, and ultimately more effective.
Having worked across a broad range of both brand and performance clients, he has consulted large New Zealand brands and enterprise businesses on their path to new growth, creating competitive advantage and proving effectiveness through technology.
Shona has over 11 years of experience in media strategy and planning across both the UK and New Zealand.
She has worked with large, fast-moving, complex businesses such as Spotlight, ASB, IAG, Danone, Henkel and Unilever.
Shona is passionate about media creativity, and loves finding an interesting solution to a brief. As a leader at Initiative, she is focused on becoming a true business partner to her clients and helping them grow beyond day-to-day campaigns.
Ashleigh (Ash) is a seasoned problem-solver and advocate for pushing boundaries to deliver exceptional outcomes by turning challenges into opportunities.
Her career journey includes diverse expertise across media, advertising, content, marketing, and design thinking, allowing her to bring a multifaceted perspective and an ability to maximize ideas.
Ash has worked across many of NZ biggest, and most loved brands including The Warehouse, Loyalty NZ, Kiwibanks, and ASB. As a Comms Designer, her role is to deliver purposeful connections between your brand and your consumer.
Christina is a Group Digital Planning Director at Initiative with almost 15 years of agency experience in digital across Publicis, Omnicom and IPG.
She has spent the last 10 years within IPG Mediabrands, focusing on understanding client and business needs, coupled with user experience to deliver results.
Christina has experience with retail clients and others where accuracy and speed to market are especially important, such as Foodstuffs, Noel Leeming, and Air New Zealand.
David has 20 years experience in media investment, working across a variety of categories (QSR, Retail, Travel, FMCG to name a few), and on many of New Zealand’s most well-known market leading brands.
Underpinned by detailed local market knowledge and the ability to uncover and forecast opportunities early, Davids wealth of investment and partnerships experience enables him to develop optimum investment approaches for clients.
David’s investment team work tirelessly to ensure the best outcomes on a daily basis and are regarded as one of the best in the market.
Marianne specialises in geospatial analysis, visualisation, econometrics and optimisation—skills that are particularly powerful in retail.
She uses advanced analytics to understand customer catchments, measure the impact of store locations, and optimise investment across channels.
Her approach balances short-term sales performance with long-term brand growth.
From driving foot traffic during key promotional periods to building strategies that maintain customer loyalty, Marianne ensures retail clients get both immediate returns and sustainable value from their media investment.
With two decades in the industry, Agata is driven by the thrill of what’s next.
From AI to modern marketing measurement, Agata has been partnering with some of New Zealand’s biggest brands to turn disruption into opportunity - shaping smarter, faster, and more adaptable ways to connect with customers.
Specialising in programmatic, ad operations and social, Anje helps retail brands turn media investment into measurable sales growth.
From optimising ROAS and CPA to navigating seasonal peaks, her focus is on building strategies that deliver commercial impact, not just clicks.
Anje has successfully onboarded retail clients and driven rapid performance gains—improving CPA by up to 40% through smarter use of platforms, testing frameworks and always-on optimisation.
What she enjoys most is working with retailers to solve challenges in real time, whether that’s moving stock faster, sharpening promotional activity or scaling customer acquisition efficiently.
Poornima is an award-winning Search expert.
She brings in 9+ years of experience from the US, India, and NZ, in driving impactful results for our clients.
Her experience includes working with retail brands like Goodyear, Dyson, and Sleep Number, leveraging data-driven insights to maximize ROI.
Poornima is passionate about staying ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving search landscape.
João brings an unrelentless work ethic to the team, from ensuring smooth implementations of campaigns through to analytic reporting.
Detail oriented and always striving for efficiencies, proves João is a team member you can trust and count on to deliver.
Prior to his 3.5 years of experience in media, João brings a wealth of retail experience from his time at PAK’nSAVE and Mitre10 (4 years), furthering his understanding of the complex problems faced daily in a retail environment.
As a Digital Account Manager at Initiative, Ivan brings over 3 years of experience in digital media, with a mix of client side and agency experiences.
Having worked with a diverse range of brands, such as Specsavers, Fonterra, Honda, ASB, and Chorus.
He’s delivered effective digital strategies enhance brand’s online presence, drive customer engagement, and acquisition outcomes.
Luz has 15+ years experience, leading teams across large New Zealand brands in a diverse range of sectors including Foodstuffs, Flight Centre, Government, and Global clients.
Luz prides herself on becoming true partner to clients and adapts quickly to fast-paced environments whilst delivering creative, high-quality work efficiently.
Louise leverages her media and client service expertise to support senior leadership through contract negotiations, pricing strategy, resource management, and ongoing financial performance.
Riley is an Account Executive at Initiative, supporting the team to ensure seamless execution of campaigns and reporting.
He plays a key role in managing the flow of work between clients, media partners, and the wider team, ensuring that even in complex business environments, campaigns are delivered with accuracy and pace.
Blending scam-intelligence, live data and media credibility, we armed New Zealanders with fast, actionable intelligence - delivered at scale through a first-of-its-kind partnership with TVNZ and NZME.
From prime-time news to social feeds, ATMs to search, we showed up wherever scams lurked, making our experts become national voices and our brand the frontline of scam protection.
More than a campaign, this was a coordinated, media-powered counteroffensive: empowering New Zealand to fight back, together.
Inspiring thousands of kids to create their own Lego inspired vehicle, with the winning design made and driven for real centre stage at the Lego Nitro event.
Get in touch - blair.alexander@initiative.com
