She departed MSL two years after the launch to take up the position of chief executive officer at VideoTaxi in September 2022.
VideoTaxi operates on a subscription basis, which sees corporates signing on for an annual subscription for unlimited access to videographers and editors. The company has worked with some of New Zealand’s biggest firms, including Fletcher Steel, Countdown, Farmers, Repco, Mercury and others.
Asked what this means for her role at VideoTaxi, Kerr-Newell said she would be staying on to lead the company while running Artemis simultaneously.
She is, in fact looking, at how the two businesses could complement each other.
“The creation of Artemis has been deliberately organic, built by listening to the needs of clients and purposefully designed to provide a natural and complementary extension to VideoTaxi’s digital content expertise and unique operating model,” she says.
She says Artemis is already working with a range of clients across New Zealand and Australia in the insurance, wellbeing, FMCG, creative, sustainability and social change sectors.
This steady stream of business has enabled her to recruit a small core group to get the company up and running.
Beccy Churchill has joined the company as group account director, Caitlin Howie has stepped in as social media lead and Jared Grib has assumed the group business development director position.
“Each of the team are natural problem solvers, trusted consultants in their respective fields and when combined offer a progressive alternative to the traditional agency model,” said Kerr-Newell.
“Our strategy recognises that content is at the heart of modern communications, so we are thrilled to offer clients a full turnkey solution alongside VideoTaxi.”
During her time at Saatchi working alongside former chief executive Paul Wilson (now at FCB), Kerr-Newell earned a reputation as a leader concerned about the wellbeing of her team in an industry notorious for squeezing as much as it can out of staff. This, she says, is an approach she intends to carry over into her own business.
“In terms of the culture we are creating for talent, the focus will be on building an environment that puts our people at the centre of everything and truly values and cares for humans over the course of their career – an antidote for the churn and burn norm in our industry,” she says.
“Those who have worked with me before will know this to be true. I’m fiercely protective and supportive of our team and am passionate about creating a place that can flex and grow with people as they progress through the seasons of a rich and fulfilled life in and outside of work.”
Damien Venuto is an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017. He is currently the host of The Front Page podcast and also writes columns and articles, often focused on the intersections between business and creativity.
