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Moody swings to BNZ, Herbison rings some changes—UPDATED

Whatever the creatives—and creative agencies—can do, so can the clients, because it seems Westpac’s head of marketing Ian Moody has swapped red for blue and joined BNZ.

Moody, a finalist in the Marketer of the Year category at the upcoming TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards, was unable to be contacted, but the message on his Westpac mobile indicates he’s no longer with the bank. He’s believed to be tending to his crops at the moment before he starts the new BNZ role, which is thought to be head of brand. 

BNZ’s chief marketing officer Craig Herbison couldn’t be contacted either to discuss the appointment, but Moody’s arrival is thought to be part of a restructure that has taken place in the past few weeks that has seen a few existing team members sent packing (or, as one cad we spoke to called it, “Herbicide”). 

UPDATE: We asked a few questions. 1) Is Ian Moody joining the team and what will his role be? 2) Has there been a restructure recently and if so can you tell me if there have been any job losses? 3) Have there been any other recent appointments made? And BNZ’s external relations manager Emily Davies got back to us with a response: “We are delighted that Ian Moody will be joining BNZ in early November to take up the role of head of brand. BNZ is pleased to have assembled a very high-calibre group of talented and passionate individuals within the marketing leadership team. The new structure has meant an overall increase of staff in marketing at BNZ.”

There’s a bit of speculation about the reasons behind Moody’s decision to take a similar job with a different bank, but it’s thought he will be a clear 2IC to Herbison, and given it’s brand rather than the marketing and customer experience remit, it’s seen as being a step up from his role at Westpac. The red bank has another gap to fill in its marketing roster because its head of brand and community Suzie Marsden has taken a promotion and shifted to Christchurch for a role running the whole southern retail network. 

Westpac profited from its bold move to give loans with a lower deposit during the recession and gained share that some of the other banks are now trying to claw back. And it released some nifty mobile apps and developed some good partnerships. But there was a distinct lack of brand work delivered by its last agency Colenso during the 18 month relationship and, given the rather interesting scenario around Clemenger Group’s decision to swap Westpac for BNZ last year, there could be a few awkward handshakes in the hallway. 

Mark Watts, the ex voice of Telecom, has also joined BNZ, replacing acting head of corporate affairs Erica Lloyd (our call to him asking for a chat with Herbison hasn’t been returned). And he adds to the list of staff who have followed the Telecom-BNZ route, with Megan Wiltshire joining to take up the head of internal comms role in August last year and Herbison joining back in November.  

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