Barbara Messitt has been promoted to the role of managing director of Woolworths@DAN, Dentsu Aegis Network's (DAN) bespoke agency designed to service the Woolworths account.
Messitt, who was previously head of Woolworths Food Group since the formation of Woolworths@DAN, takes over from Sarah James who exited the business earlier this year.
James has since joined rival agency network, IPG Mediabrands, heading up Initiative Melbourne.
Woolworths@DAN was established in 2018, bringing together talent from the network including Carat, Amplifi, Amnet, iProspect, Columbus and Posterscope.
Messitt, who joined DAN in 2015 as group business director for Woolworths at Carat Sydney, says she is excited to be part of the group through its "evolution" and lead it into its "next phase".
“We’re privileged to be partnering with one of Australia’s leading companies, and Barbara is the ideal person to lead and drive this relationship forward," DAN Australia and NZ CEO Henry Tajer says.
The news follows the announcement in March that Woolworths would launch a stand-alone media business, Cartology.
Cartology, headed up by former Adshel boss Mike Tyquin, will progressively replace the existing media selling model and arrangement within the group, however won't impact its relationship with DAN.
The move by Woolworths was instead focused on the selling process of its owned channel assets, which will now be moved into "one business unit".
This is the second major appointment to a DAN bespoke unit, following the appointment of Energy Australia marketer Tom Andrews earlier this month. Andrews returned to DAN, leading the Disney media account out of Melbourne.
These moves follow a litany of recent leadership changes across DAN's largest media agency, Carat, including national head of strategy Danni Wright, Alex Smith as client leader, Carat Melbourne (joining in June), Marnie McKeown as head of content services and media integration and Dick Laurie as strategy director, both Carat WA.
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