Ikon has made another two senior hires, with former Naked Communications strategist John Halpin and MediaCom's Naomi Niblett coming on board. Boss James Greet told AdNews that he has the team in place to start rattling a few cages.
He said industry was about to be served the "canary report" with the proverbial bird "going green... and yet everyone's plodding along" doing what agencies have always done. Ikon has done the hard work, he suggested.
Halpin joins as head of strategy, Sydney, while Niblett joins in a national capacity as head of social. Halpin spent eight years at Naked in strategic roles in Australia and the UK, the majority of the time as managing partner. Niblett was social media director at MediaCom and part of its innovation and technology community.
The new appointments follow the recent hires of Republic of Everyone founder Matt Perry and former Maxus data lead Rob Pardini in March. Chief executive James Greet, formerly of Mindshare, was brought in to rebuild the agency after a management purge last year.
After the Melbourne unit retaining Myer, the agency has subsequently lost some major including Coca-Cola and Vodafone. Greet through, said things would change.
"As the Ikonoclast within the industry, Ikon was born to challenge the status quo for clients. To do that we need to continue to attract the brightest and the best, to build our vision for the future. These guys are testament to our commitment to find a better way for clients when the rest of the world seems happy to maintain the status quo."
Halpin said: "Ikon remains the stand out brand within the media agency marketplace. It has always embraced change and innovated within a category that’s seen most of the other strong Australian brands disappear. Add to that the talent James Greet has recently recruited, a clear vision for where they want to take the business, and Ikon quickly became a team I wanted to be part of."
Niblett said: "I am really excited to be joining the Ikon family with a clear vision for a future that has technology and content at the heart of it. This was a compelling opportunity to work with some of the industry’s sharpest thinkers and help build a new way of thinking and delivering for our clients. Working with an agency that is Australian born, bred and run means being able to be nimble and drive change at pace."
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