Media talks to James Chadwick about old rivalries and bringing agency talent together.

Sitting down with James Chadwick, the new CEO of GroupM Singapore, it is only right to begin by asking how he will work around one of the roles’ most sensitive challenges, namely the competition between GroupM agencies, specifically Mindshare and MEC. After all, one of the responsibilities for Chadwick, as defined by GroupM Asia-Pacific CEO Mark Patterson, is to create a spirit of cohesiveness among the group’s agencies.

Chadwick is clear about when and how the agencies are allowed to compete. “It’s very important that we do not compete on price when a client wants two GroupM agencies to be involved. Where competition will work is in creating a unique environment and culture. Each of the four agencies should have its own culture.”

So does that theory apply also to Maxus and MediaCom, both of which have comparatively smaller operations in Singapore? And will they receive the kind of focus and support from GroupM that will enable them to grow? Chadwick insists that all the agencies “will be loved equally.”

“I will have to sit down with the local and regional leadership of all four agencies. Each of the agencies will get the specific kind of support they need - the back-end support and the strategic support.”

Chadwick is likely to also play a big part in finding the right talent for GroupM. The agencies will focus on hiring people in specialist areas who, as Chadwick puts it, know things that people within the agency don’t. More immediately, though, his first big task is to appoint a head for Mindshare Singapore, which has been leaderless since Sony Wong announced his decision to leave the agency.

Running GroupM’s operations in a country that is the regional hub for media agencies, while finding a balance in the regional-local equation, might also prove to be a hurdle. But Chadwick says he feels blessed to be running an operation in a country which has become a media hub and a talent hub for all GroupM agencies.

“All four of the GroupM agencies have located their CEOs here. In my previous role, where I had a GroupM research role, I had a good working relationship with them. In addition, there is a treasure box of talent that that Singapore business can tap into. We’ll get tremendous value in business from those people.”

GroupM agencies already dominate a big share of the city-state market and have reasonably good reputations, but the question is whether there is really room to grow in a relatively small market like Singapore.

Chadwick says that he is confident that the agencies will continue to expand, but a more “exciting objective” for him is to increase GroupM’s share and trust of the clients’ overall marketing budget.

“Our path to growth is not necessarily just taking on more and more clients; it’s about building a stronger relationship [with clients] to gain more trust and help them do things beyond media planning and marketing. I am a great believer that media agencies are in a good position to achievethat.”

Chadwick also foresees growth coming from “new solutions” such as search, measurement systems, marketing ROI, social media and content activation and says these disciplines are growing fast within the group. He points to marketing ROI as the most important capability clients can use. “Any marketer who does not embrace this or become an expert in this area will not have a senior job in marketing in a few years’ time,” he warns. “This is our fastest growing practice and we have been building it up for well over 10 years.”

Chadwick arrives in Singapore straight from his previous post as Mindshare’s regional head of business planning. Last held by Henry Tan in 2006, the CEO position sat vacant until recently. This does not daunt Chadwick. Calm, relaxed and confident, he is articulate and clear about what his focus will be - to “strive to create the best and the biggest agencies in the market”.

Ashutosh Srivastava, Asia-Pacific CEO of Mindshare, calls Chadwick “curious, open to learning about new things, experimental, collaborative and a great team player.”

“Overall, James has a great feel for the business issues. He was chosen over external candidates for the GroupM Singapore leadership role as his knowledge, approachability and style would be an asset in us being able to accelerate our growth as GroupM in this market,” adds Srivastava.

What not too many people know is that in a previous life Chadwick was a journalist covering the advertising and marketing industry.

So entranced was he by the business that he decided to become part of it. “I completely fell in love with the industry. I would interview marketers and agencies, and came to know how the industry works as a journalist,” he says.

He admits, though, that he had no idea where to begin and “thought it would be a great idea if I could work with them all.” Having undertaken senior roles in creative agencies (including Grey and Ogilvy), a client role at Intel, and a media owner post at Asiacontent.com (now dormant), Chadwick says he has finally discovered his true passion within a media agency.

“Media is the right path for me because it’s all about money. This is where the rubber hits the road. I always think that anyone who is starting their career in the industry should start with a media agency.”