VMLY&R COMMERCE Appoints Gemma Spence to VP Commerce Transformation

VMLY&R COMMERCE, WPP’s end-to-end Creative Commerce company, announces the appointment of Gemma Spence to VP Commerce Transformation. In this newly created role, Gemma will be responsible for refining and enabling the agency’s long-term transformation roadmap to accelerate the delivery of end-to-end creative commerce for clients globally. Of critical importance will be connecting existing capability across retail, digital, experiential, data and technology to optimise its commercial offering and simplify how marketers unlock growth across its operations.

Working hand in hand with the Global leadership team, and enabled by the agency’s industry-leading data and technology platform, Gemma will help design and align product, strategy and talent to scale value creation and business impact with an immediate focus on key markets of US and UK. She will also serve as growth partner on key global accounts, mining opportunities across marketplaces such as Amazon, Alibaba and growing list of retail media networks to build brands and drive sales.   

“In order to stay relevant, businesses need to be in a constant state of evolution,” commented Beth Ann Kaminkow, Global CEO. “Gemma’s track record of leading businesses through the ecommerce revolution makes her the ideal candidate to drive forward our momentum. She will be at the heart of our transformation strategy, driving a forward-looking view across ecommerce, retail media and new and emerging marketplaces to keep our clients and talent on the cutting-edge of innovation.”

On her appointment, Gemma said: “Growth in commerce channels has created new expectations at the intersection of creativity, data and technology. This role presents a unique opportunity to create and curate capabilities that work in unison to fuel growth for clients across a new marketing landscape. VMLY&R Commerce has been relentless in its commitment to leading clients through these changes, and there’s no better time to be a part of shaping the future of how brands are experienced and bought.”

Gemma has spent the last 12 years delivering Global Commerce Leadership for brand marketers, retailers, and agencies cutting across the full ecommerce value chain of management and strategic channel planning. She brings with her a depth of knowledge across industries having consulted for FMCG, automotive and beauty brands, as well as ran the ecommerce operations in-house for a prominent consumer electronics company.  She most recently served as the chief commerce officer at PHD in Omnicom Media Group where she set up an award-winning global ecommerce advisory unit of over 130 consultants (Transact) that used behavioural economics to predict purchase drivers of consumer selection for better sales outcomes. Gemma’s media prowess brings in an essential capability to bare for clients as Retail Media becomes a critical part of the marketing mix.

Gemma has been recognised as CIO Magazines’ 20 Businesswomen of 2021, Management Today’s 35 Women Under 35, Mediatel’s Future Media Leader, and has helped shape many of the ecommerce standards and programs across the industry. She is a mentor, contributing editor for WARC & Econsultancy and is studying an EMBA at the University of Oxford