ISBA boss Phil Smith to step down
Phil Smith will take on the role of Origin chair following his departure, with his focus on “driving the success” of the cross-media measurement tool.
ISBA’s director general Phil Smith is set to step down in mid-2025 after eight years at the advertiser trade body.
Smith will become chair of Origin, the cross-media measurement tool he helped to establish, as it looks to expand the proposition globally.
A nominations committee has been formed to help find Smith’s successor. It comprises Phoenix Group brand and marketing director and ISBA treasurer, Ben Rhodes; NatWest Group CMO and former ISBA president, Margaret Jobling; and Taide Guajardo, P&G’s brand senior vice-president for Europe and ISBA vice-president. They will report to ISBA president Pete Markey, while August Leadership will conduct the search for Smith’s replacement.
Markey, who is also CMO of Boots, highlights the “drive and purpose” Smith has brought to the role over the past eight years.
“We are committed to finding strong leadership to continue to energise ISBA and look forward to working with Phil as he brings to fruition the answer to advertisers’ demand for accountable cross-media measurement,” he adds.
Origin entered its latest phase of trial in September, with 35 advertisers currently testing real campaign data for the first time.
The tool feeds multiple measurement tools into one dataset and is designed to help advertisers plan, track and evaluate campaigns across channels. It claims advertisers will be able to measure their ad campaigns across TV, digital video and digital display, which accounts for more than 70% of all UK media spend, excluding paid search.
At the time, Smith told Marketing Week Origin will help advertisers “drive the use cases that show a return on investment” so they can “make efficiencies” in the way they allocate media and how they reinvest money.
Origin is expected to to be available to the whole market early next year following the trial.
Smith describes serving as ISBA’s director general as the “best role of my career”.
“I look forward to focusing my efforts on driving the success of Origin and will support the nominations committee in every way I can in finding an energetic new director general to take ISBA as an agent of positive change to the next level.”
