As the digital world continues to develop at pace, MBM chief digital officer Emily Isle reminds marketers in Aotearoa why local tech leadership is so important.
As digital tools evolve, New Zealand marketers stand at a crossroads: rely on standardised global platforms or harness local expertise.
The real advantage of offering local leadership for our industry’s data and technology needs extends far beyond time-zone alignment.
It’s about co-creating strategies, offering training specific to our market, accelerating decision-making through in-person collaboration and capturing Aotearoa’s cultural nuances, – all while building a sustainable pipeline of home-grown talent.
Onsite collaboration accelerates Kiwi innovation
While building sophisticated dashboards or tagging frameworks is essential, it’s the tailored, in-person training and on-demand, over-the-shoulder support that transforms those tools into second nature. This process-first philosophy embeds new capabilities quickly, turning data-driven insights into everyday practice across Aotearoa’s advertising landscape.
This co-location advantage doesn’t just save time – it deepens trust, sparks authentic creativity and delivers campaigns that truly resonate with clients’ Kiwi audiences.
Local expertise, better value
Global brands often roll out strategies that overlook Aotearoa’s unique market nuances. Kiwi marketers sense when something doesn’t quite fit, but without solid data it’s hard to challenge those plans. At the same time, New Zealand needs affordable, high-impact technology built for our scale – not expensive, one-size-fits-all solutions designed for very different audiences.
It’s therefore important for local teams – armed with a deep understanding of the New Zealand market – to harness the evolving suite of tools at their disposal. By tapping into open-source tools, leveraging cloud cost efficiencies, and applying AI-driven econometrics, they can run rigorous A/B tests and marketing-mix models at a fraction of the usual cost. This approach equips Kiwi marketers with clear, locally relevant evidence to guide smarter decisions and craft strategies that truly resonate.
For example, we have found that our localised Data Intelligence Hub (DIH) model can centralise data and tech services across our Publicis Groupe agencies in New Zealand to deliver affordable, impactful solutions designed specifically for the Kiwi market.
For Hato Hone St John, insights from the DIH’s Bayesian marketing-mix modelling and “What-If” scenario analysis helped grow the charity’s ambulance membership program, fuelling optimisations that boosted both renewals and new sign-ups.
Fuelling economic growth by backing local talent
In a market as tightly knit as New Zealand’s, promoting local tech leadership does more than deliver better campaigns – it builds an ecosystem. By rooting our experts here in Aotearoa, we strengthen partnerships with organisations like the IAB, contribute meaningful thought leadership and help set the standards that elevate the entire industry.
This also equips us to invest in the talent pipeline: mentoring university students, inviting them into client presentations and supporting academic research. This hands-on engagement not only nurtures the next generation of data and technology specialists but ensures New Zealand marketers always have the skills, insights and local perspective to compete and innovate.
When tech leadership is local, everyone wins – our clients, our industry and our economy.
