About | Hearts & Science Australia
What’s the Heart? Science?
We dig deeper into Behaviour
Understanding your customers, what motivates them and their behaviours and journeys. Positioning your brand in all of this to maximise returns. That’s the Heart.
We dig deeper into Data
To be customer centric you need to be where your customers are. To do that effectively you need data. To manage this data you need technology. To decision this data you need insights. That’s the science.
Australia | Our Business, Our People
Hearts & Science was founded in New York in 2016 as a data-driven marketing agency designed from the ground up to rethink legacy media processes. The new approach resulted in client wins exceeding US$4BN in media spend and the agency grew to 800+ people within 12 months. Hearts & Science in Australia enjoyed some early global wins in 2017 and was officially launched in Melbourne and Sydney in 2019 as the third pillar agency of the Omnicom Media Group (OMG), incorporating the existing m2m agency. Hearts & Science Australia services a number of leading Australian and global brands delivering media audiences & insights, media planning, media buying and advisory services alongside SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), MMM (Market Mix Modelling) and Analytics services.
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Jeremy
Bolt CEOPrior to Hearts & Science, Jeremy Bolt was CEO of Annalect and Resolution in Australia working at the intersection of planning, data and technology to drive better media outcomes. Combined with his consulting experience while at Deloitte, various commercial roles and then starting a business which was acquired by Omnicom in 2013, Jeremy brings a blend of business, systems integration and data expertise to deliver on the Hearts promise.
Jeremy is also on the Board of the Beacon Foundation, a not for profit organisation focussed on the attainment of school children to year 12 and is a passionate triathlete having completed both short course (sprint) and long course triathlon (Ironman).
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Richard
Smith Melbourne Managing DirectorAs a student of psychology, the understanding of consumer and employee motivation remains at the heart of Richard’s work. His mission is to maintain team morale and chemistry in the Melbourne office, and can boast record low churn rates.
He has over 25 years of agency experience working directly with brands like GSK, Suzuki, GE, Burger King, Shell and more at Maxus and m2m. Maxus (Now Wavemaker) was founded by Richard for Group M and has since made the top ten agencies globally. While he’s a music lover who can’t really play an instrument, who needs anything else when there’s karaoke?
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Wendy
Gower Sydney Managing DirectorWendy has been with the Australian Hearts & Science team since day one, building a strong culture and environment for growth. She believes in challenging the status quo to create sustainable business growth for clients and continues to lead by example.
Prior to Hearts, Wendy was Managing Director of m2m Sydney for 5 years and saw the business quadruple in size. With over 20 years of experience across large global agencies, Wendy has worked with brands like Apple, Unilever, Sony Pictures and Hyundai. She’s the mother of three beautiful girls, plays golf and still manages to fit Pilates in at least 3x a week.
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Kate
Gamble General ManagerKate Gamble makes it her mission at Hearts & Science to change the attribution of advertising to negate the saying, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” She thrives on algorithms and always seeks to achieve personal bests for her clients.
A startup junkie, Kate fits right in at Hearts & Science. She worked at three startups before she was 21 and later worked across mature agencies like Resolution Media Australia directing large accounts. Winner of the Grand Prix Best Under 30 Year Old Marketer award in Australia, Kate still finds time to lead a balanced life advocating for health and wellness in yoga, meditation and more.
Global Leadership
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Erin
Matts Chief Executive OfficerErin Matts is a veteran of the media and advertising industry with extensive experience in digital innovation and leadership. Previous to becoming CEO at Hearts & Science, she served as the North America CEO of Annalect, chief digital marketing officer at Glam Media, and global director of Digital Connections at Anheuser-Busch InBev. She has also led the U.S. digital media practice for OMD, playing a major role in helping the agency to be recognized by Ad Age as Agency of the Year in 2008 and 2009.
In 2015, Erin was named to ‘Ad Age’s Women to Watch’ list among 20 women breaking new ground in marketing and media, and listed among AdWeek’s 2016 Young Influentials list of game changers under 40. For almost 20 years, Erin has been making waves in the worlds of media, marketing, technology and entertainment.
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A.J.
Storinge Chief Operating OfficerA.J. is charged with delivering the “business of our business” at Hearts & Science, both for our people and our clients. With the right questions and strategic solutions, he works closely with the North America and Global teams to create a better workplace for employees, identify business growth opportunities and fuel a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.
A.J. has been with Hearts & Science since March 2018 and has over 30 years of industry experience. His success has spanned from leading Fortune 50 brands to serving in various agency leadership roles such as chief strategy officer at OMD and chief executive officer at MetaVision Media.
A.J.’s passion for building meaningful relationships is the driving force behind his success as the leader of one of the largest agencies in the country. He is intrigued by behavioral economics, but that’s just the beginning. Take a cab ride with him through New York City, and you’ll find he’s also a fun-fact dispenser around every part of the city.
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Renee
Cassard Chief Audience OfficerAs chief audience officer at Hearts & Science, Renee works with teams to build better experiences for consumers and advertisers alike. By weaving consumer stories together from behavioral data, she marries the left and right brain to build more comprehensive solutions for brands.
Renee brings deep expertise in consumer behavior to the global leadership team, with an advanced degree in behavioral psychology from Columbia University and 20 years of experience, ranging from neuroscience laboratories to global marketing agencies.
Prior to joining the Hearts & Science executive team, Renee spent eight years as part of a leadership team at PHD, where she was accountable for pitching, winning and retaining the agency’s largest vertical clients. Studying the factors that influence consumer thinking in combination with granular behavioral data has been a researcher’s dream for Renee—almost as good as escaping for a good 6-mile run to get new ideas pumping.
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Megan
Pagliuca Chief Media & Data OfficerA trailblazer at her core, Megan is pushing the industry forward to make the way advertising is bought more customer-centric and data-driven. She leverages powerful data layers and audience profiles to evolve traditional ad inventory into a programmatic-first approach for more effective campaigns. Her deep knowledge of the ad-tech industry creates space for innovation at Hearts & Science and, ultimately, for clients.
When programmatic and real-time bidding were invented, Megan was there at Right Media. Her time running the digital media team at Merkle strengthened Megan’s unparalleled ability to connect CRM data to ad tech and build infrastructures that enable marketing personalization. With over 12 years of experience in data-driven media campaigns across agencies, she is now uniquely positioned to transform linear ad buying into its next stage of programmatic growth.
Megan is recognized for her innovative breakthroughs in Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 and DMA’s Marketing Edge 2011 Rising Star. Fluid in both her strategy and life, Megan is also a scuba diver and is teaching her daughter to love the water too.
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Jeff
Wamble Chief Financial OfficerCrunching numbers and deciphering analytics, Jeff lives and breathes where finance meets creativity. He loves perfecting his craft in an evolving environment like advertising and media and is always analyzing spreadsheets to provide additional value for clients. He wears many hats and gives equal attention to Hearts & Science, its employees and its clients.
Jeff has a firm grounding in finance, starting his career as a senior accountant at the Arthur Andersen accounting firm (now Accenture) before becoming the director of finance at Stillking Films Group. He later made his full foray into the media industry as a finance director at Ogilvy and later at OMD.
Jeff’s diverse work background has enabled him to successfully adapt to different personalities across the agency while still providing support as a business partner. A man of many talents, he also spent six years in the Louisiana Army National Guard and earned his MBA from Columbia University.
