L’Oréal Chief Media Officer to take on Media Forum co-chair role

"WFA's group for global media leaders - the Media Forum - is a powerful and energetic community, striving for change in an ecosystem which can feel like it's on a treadmill set to Olympic pace."

This appointment reflects the heavy workload being undertaken by the Media Forum as it seeks to action the wide array of goals outlined in the WFA's latest Media Charter.

Mathias brings huge experience to the role, having worked agency as well as client side, including spending time in the UK, China and other markets. He joined L'Oréal in November 2021.

"The magic happens when people with diverse perspectives and backgrounds come together, collaborating as a team, to drive our industry forwards. Through the WFA's Media Forum and Board, we are spearheading advertiser-led change. I'm delighted Mathias will join forces with me on this mission and I see our partnership critical to our continued success." - Isabel Massey, VP Global Media & Content, Diageo.

Such client leadership is key for WFA's media-centric work as it seeks to steer a complex programme, which combines both global and market-specific work alongside the WFA's network of National Advertiser Associations.

"We're looking forward to working with Mathias and Isabel to drive a powerful agenda, addressing the many external industry challenges we face while also providing a forum for client-side media leaders to share perspectives and solutions for how to overhaul internal capabilities and structures," said Matt Green, Director of Global Media Services at the WFA.

Previous chairs have included the Forum's longest-serving chair Ben Jankowski, former SVP Global Media at Mastercard, who sadly passed away in February, as well as more recently, Gerry D'Angelo when he was at P&G.

"WFA's group for global media leaders - the Media Forum - is a powerful and energetic community, striving for change in an ecosystem which can feel like it's on a treadmill set to Olympic pace", said Green. "To rally the community and provide a singular mouthpiece to the external industry, WFA has been updating the Global Media Charter - currently on version 3.0."

The latest edition, which was published in April 2023, focuses on key issues that include the poor health of measurement infrastructure as well as calling for greater responsibility around topics such as safety, sustainability and DEI. It also looks at the state of competition in the marketplace, including the dominance of major players and the impact felt by the emergence of new, retail players.

The Media Forum will be meeting in May during the WFA's Global Marketer Week in Toronto, where the agenda will focus on three key Charter areas: Measurement, Responsibility and Partnerships.