Shenda Loughnane, group managing director of Dentsu Aegis Network Ireland, has taken over as President of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI). She replaces Jimmy Murphy of Publicis Dublin who has held the presidency for the past two years.
Lougnane joined Dentsu Aegis Network Ireland as group managing director in April 2018 and is responsible for overseeing Carat, iProspect, Vizeum and isobar brands as well as managing the data, strategy and new product development divisions of DAN Ireland
Prior to her return to this, she spent four years as global chief strategy officer for iProspect, based in Germany. She has over 18 years of experience in digital advertising on both the media and creative sides of the business and a further seven years in traditional advertising.
“IAPI has done significant work on behalf of the Irish advertising industry over the past couple of years. From initiatives that highlight the need for greater diversity in our business to campaigns designed to attract new talent, huge progress has been made. There is of course much more we can do, and these areas will continue to be a key focus for IAPI as we head into 2020,” says Loughnane.
“But we are at a pivotal moment in our industry in many ways. While agencies are seeing growth, margins remain under pressure, attracting and affording talent is a perennial problem and we face new business challenges in areas such as the trend towards in-housing agency services. And so, we also need to look at how we can support our agencies to improve business margins and drive industry growth. One of the key areas we will be looking at next year is how we can reduce the cost of pitching and winning new business, currently a considerable financial drain on agencies,” she says.
“But we also need to look closely at how and where we attract new business. Ireland has some of the best advertising talent globally, and there is a huge opportunity for us to increase our visibility and presence at a global level and to attract global business to our market. This can be done through presence at global awards events such as Cannes or the recently announced Effie Awards Ireland, but also through building connections with global businesses on our doorstep,” she says.
Acknowledging the outgoing president of IAPI, Charley Stoney, its CEO says: “Jimmy has excelled in steering IAPI over the past two years. He has overseen several positive and highly strategic initiatives and we’d like to thank him enormously for his time and hard work, not just in the last two years but over the last six years he has served on the Board. Naturally, he will be missed.”
“We are excited about the future and fully confident that Shenda will continue to guide the organisation in the right direction and support our strategic goals and we’re greatly looking forward to working with her. Her track record of success is excellent and her experience of working in large media and digital organisations at home and abroad will provide IAPI with great insight into the evolving industry we support,” she says.
