Unmade: media and marketing analysis
Unmade: media and marketing analysis
How Zenith boss Jason Tonelli is tripling down on client ROI, and wants to return the Audit Bureau to relevance
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How Zenith boss Jason Tonelli is tripling down on client ROI, and wants to return the Audit Bureau to relevance

Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade.

Today’s edition features an interview with Jason Tonelli, boss of media agency Zenith and the new chair of the Audited Media Association of Australia.

Below, an update on The Unmade Index, which experienced choppy waters yesterday amid a broader down day on the market.

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Meet the boss of The ROI Agency. To the power of three

Tonelli: Wants auditing back on the agenda

It’s two decades since Publicis Group’s second string media agency Zenith rebranded itself globally as The ROI Agency (and a decade since a brief local repositioning as “the open agency”.)

New CEO Jason Tonelli has evolved the local position again - Zenith’s proposition is now “ROI Cubed”: the three I’s being investment, imagination, insight.

In today’s interview with Unmade’s Tim Burrowes, Tonelli discusses what Zenith intends to deliver for clients, working within the larger Publicis group where he’s spent the last decade of his career, and the wider planning and investment process.

Zenith’s core proposition is simply about doing media exceptionally well, Tonelli says. Zenith’s clients include Reckitt, Kellogg’s, TikTok, Aldi, H&M, Rio Tinto and Disney.

The agency is also investing in consumer research. Tonelli shares during the conversation that polling suggests that the public is leaning towards a “no” vote in The Voice referendum.

Can the AMAA reinvent itself?

Unmade can also reveal that Tonelli is the new chair of the Audited Media Association of Australia. The AMAA was kneecapped by Australia’s print publishers in late 2016 when Bauer, News Corp and Pacific Magazines all resigned from the magazine audits in what proved to be the death knell of print circulation transparency.

Tonelli discusses how he hopes to return the AMAA to relevance through auditing in the digital space.

“It would be great to get auditing back on the agenda; it’s an important part of our industry,” Tonelli says.

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Choppy waters on the Unmade Index

The Unmade Index, our measure of the performance of ASX-listed media and marketing stocks, sank by 1.08% yesterday to land at 619 points on a day when the wider ASX All Ordinaries fell by around 1.5%.

The biggest falls in share price were seen across the smaller players - The Market Herald, Sports Entertainment Group and B2B media firm Aspermont. They had drops of 10.45%, 13.04% and 11.76% respectively.

Southern Cross Media saw a considerable fall in its share price of 2.67% taking it to yet another new low, while Seven West Media and Nine fell 1.33% and 1.31%, respectively.

Enero Group had a moderate rise of 2.11%. Printing and marketing services company IVE Group rose 1.79%, while Ooh Media saw a 1.67% increase in its share price.

The smallest two players on the Unmade Index also saw positive action, with out of home advertising minnow Motio lifting 7.69% and Pureprofile rising by 7.14%.



Time to leave you to your Thursday.

Audio production was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.

Message us: letters@unmade.media

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Unmade: media and marketing analysis
Unmade: media and marketing analysis
Media and marketing news with all the in-depth analysis, insight and context you need.
Unmade offers industry news from an Australian perspective, from the founder of Mumbrella and the author of the best-selling book Media Unmade, Tim Burrowes