Melissa Fein is leaving Accenture Song's Australia-New Zealand operations for a US-based role, while Sam Geer assumes leadership of the region's media business effective immediately. The transition arrives as Accenture Song consolidates its media practice following 18 months of post-pandemic account churn across APAC luxury and travel verticals.
Fein joined Accenture Song ANZ in 2021 after holding senior roles at Publicis and Omnicom agencies. Her departure removes a direct link to the region's hospitality holding structure at a time when Song is defending incumbencies with at least three heritage hotel groups in Australia and New Zealand. Geer, promoted internally, previously led media strategy for Song's financial-services clients and will now oversee an estimated $47 million in annual ANZ media billings, according to market participants familiar with the business.
The shift matters because Accenture Song's ANZ media operation has underperformed its Southeast Asia counterpart by margin since Q4 2023, according to internal performance data shared with holding-company analysts. Song's regional creative-plus-media model—designed to compete with WPP and Publicis for integrated pitches—has struggled to convert Australian luxury-hospitality accounts, where creative and media buying remain separated across legacy agency relationships. Geer's financial-services background suggests Accenture is prioritizing performance-media discipline over brand-storytelling heritage, a posture that aligns with the firm's global pivot toward commerce-media and retail-media networks.
Fein's move to the US also removes a senior female executive from Song's ANZ leadership at a moment when consulting firms face renewed scrutiny over retention of women in partner-track roles. Accenture has publicly committed to 50% female representation in its managing-director ranks by 2025, but Song's creative divisions have lagged that target in APAC markets. Worth noting: Geer's promotion maintains Song ANZ's overwhelmingly male C-suite, now six men to two women across the top eight commercial roles.
Operators and allocators should watch for Song's performance in upcoming hospitality RFPs scheduled for Q2 2025, including at least one $12 million media assignment for a pan-Asia luxury-resort operator. Accenture is expected to pitch against Publicis Groupe and Dentsu on integrated creative-plus-media terms. Separately, monitor whether Fein's US assignment signals a broader APAC-to-Americas talent rotation inside Song's media practice—three other APAC media leads have relocated to North American roles since January 2024.
Accenture Song parent company reported $64.9 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue, with Song contributing an estimated $10.2 billion. The ANZ media business represents less than 1% of that total, but its performance is watched closely by family-office allocators considering private investments in independent media agencies competing for the same luxury-hospitality accounts Accenture Song is defending.