Westpac recruits IAG chief customer and marketing officer Michelle Klein to take on growth and marketing reins
Westpac has grabbed current IAG chief customer and marketing officer, Michelle Klein, as its new chief growth and marketing officer following an executive recruitment search. Her appointment comes four months after former CMO, Annabel Fribence, left the big four bank amid a protracted agency review process and lagging brand performance against its rivals.
IAG’s Michelle Klein is to take the newly repositioned chief growth and marketing officer role at Westpac, Mi3 has confirmed.
It is understood the current IAG chief customer and marketing officer, who has been with the ASX-listed insurance giant for two years, is to take up the position later this year. Mi3 has reached out to Westpac for formal comment.
Klein returned to Australia a little over two years ago to take up the newly created role at IAG, part of a restructured approach to customer experience and marketing under IAG’s CEO, Julie Batch that gave her a much-extended remit through to customer service and support.
Klein had spent the previous decade with Meta, where she’d worked her way up to VP of global business and product marketing. Her resume also includes working with brands including Diageo, British Airways, Orient Express and Armani.
Klein takes over the marketing mantle at Westpac following the departure of former CMO, Annabel Fribence, who exited the big four bank in January amid a strategic and reporting overhaul under newly appointed CEO, Anthony Miller. Her departure also came as Westpac worked through a protracted agency review, which saw BMF appointed as the bank's new creative agency of record in February. The independent agency replaced 13-year incumbent, DDB.
The process reportedly suffered the knock-on effects of increased stakeholders vying to own creative and brand direction - those with knowledge of the pitch process told Mi3 that upwards of a dozen Westpac execs were directly involved in the earlier contract review process, which meant alignment inside the business was near impossible. It's understood to have contributed to a blown out pitch timeline, with short-listed agencies handed down a re-scoped brief of more than 50-pages in the final weeks of the process.
Following Fribence’s exit, Westpac handed interim CMO duties to Elaine Herlihy, a former Westpac marketer up until 2015, while it sought to find a permanent replacement. Hourigan International, which had the contract to help find the new Westpac marketing chief, previously told Mi3 the role had also been repositioned to include “growth” specifically within the job title.
In a statement, Westpac Acting Chief Executive, Consumer Carolyn McCann, confirmed the appointment and said Klein will commence the job later this year.
“Michelle is a customer-centric, commercial and data-driven leader, with global experience across a range of industries,” McCann said. “She is the right person to take our growth and marketing agenda forward into the future, building on our proud 208-year history.
“We’re looking forward to Michelle joining Westpac later this year where she will be responsible for supporting our growth ambitions through our brand and marketing initiatives, including for Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA.”
Fribence has since become CMO for McDonald’s Australia, replacing Chris Brown, who stepped down in April after two years a CMO then another two-and-a-half years as chief customer officer.
News of a new chief growth and marketing officer appointment at Westpac also comes just weeks after the bank nabbed Commonwealth Bank’s chief analytics and data leader, Andrew McMullan, as its new chief data, digital and AI officer.
Klein was recognised as #5th in the inaugural CMOs of the Year list as part of the CMO Awards for her work to date at IAG.
IAG has not yet commented on its plans for replacing Klein, but a spokesperson told Mi3: " Michelle leaves a very strong CXM leadership and broader team and we wish her the very best in the future. "
