Kantar Australia has announced four key national appointments to it commercial and sustainability leadership.
Olly Reid has joined as head of business development, Jo Brockhurst is promoted to client engagement eirector, Ryan France is expanding his brand strategy role to lead the sustainability practice and Kim Ruyten will implement the company’s ESG commitment.
Reid returns to Australia from London to take on a key role in the Australian leadership team and as strategic partner to Kantar’s Marketplace platform.
He says being back in Australia “feels like coming home. Australia holds a leading position as a hotbed of building great brands, and I’m incredibly excited to support client growth, leverage my global brand experience and get to know the best and brightest brand leaders and gamechangers in Australia.”
Jo Brockhurst has 15 years of CX, media measurement, comms and brand research experience as she leverages her “natural passion for getting under the skin of business with creative thinking”.
Kantar, since launching a local sustainable transformation practice last year, has seen extraordinary growth in sustainability work in Australia as a business-critical issue.
Head of brand strategy Ryan France will expand his remit to lead the local practice along with head of strategic projects Kim Ruyten who’ll drive the ESG capability. They’ll be supported by a multi-disciplinary Sustainability Council.
Kantar Australia’s managing director Jon Foged says that with brands facing the headwinds of multiple challenges at unprecedented scale, all four appointments are critical to helping Australian businesses accelerate their growth in the years ahead.
“We know that businesses that invest in their brands outperform the market, and that investment in marketing remains the most powerful form of defence in times of economic crisis," says Foged.
"Strong brands simply retain more economic value during tough times and recover more quickly when market conditions improve. As such, our own investment in the triple threat of commercial, brand and sustainability will help our clients immensely.”
Kantar Australia chief commercial officer Jonathan Sinton says the appointments “are testament to the strong growth trajectory of the business in Australia and the exciting capability developments that Kantar is developing that will be gamechangers for clients grappling with a turbulent economy".
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