Matt Connell, MKTG’s managing director in Australia has been promoted to to lead the sports and entertainment group's efforts across the APAC region.
Dentsu last week reorganised its sports businesses in Europe, the Americas and Asia into one global structure, a move designed to differentiate the Japan-based group from competitors
The regional appointment is part of a raft of management changes, including Jarrad Provis as general manager, marketing strategy, and Jeremy Francis, as chief operating officer.
Stephanie Rudnick, former head of PR for the American football league, the XFL, has moved to Sydney from New York and is rejoining MKTG to run the agency’s global communications effort.
She will also head up the newly-developed Hospitality and Events offering, and continue running PR for the US women's professional soccer team Angel City FC in Los Angeles.
Connell says 2021 represents a significant milestone for the MKTG Australia team.
"We are beginning a new chapter for our business as a core player in the formal combination of MKTG sports and entertainment and dentsu Sports International," he says.
"We are confident that together we will exceed in delivering new opportunities and value to clients and partners across the local MKTG and dentsu ANZ business and beyond.
"Over the last five years, we have made a substantial investment in both product innovation and hiring the best talent to help solidify MKTG ANZ as the most respected and dependable sports and entertainment business in the region.
"Despite the challenges of the last 12 months, our nimble business model, access to resources driven by our incredibly talented team allowed us to pivot and create solutions that delivered great results for our clients.
"We could not be in a stronger position to embark on the next era of our business thanks to our clients who believe in our team, now strengthened with the addition of someone of Steph's experience and background."
Matt Manning, MKTG Sports & Entertainment Global CEO, says Australia is an important and exciting market for MKTG and dentsu.
"Matt has done a fantastic job over the last five years building out a great team and an evolved service offering,” he says.
“I also applaud the leadership for diversifying its capabilities from what was a successful sports and entertainment business, to setting the industry standard across commercial rights, product innovation, and delivery excellence that is providing meaningful impact and value to all of its partners and clients.”
Jeremy Francis
Jeremy Francis joined the MKTG team in June of 2019 as COO, while also serving as General Manager, Marketing Strategy. With Jarrad Provis's promotion to lead Marketing Strategy, Jeremy now will solely focus on his Chief Operating Officer role to support the Australian business growth objectives across the region and build out the agency's data analytics capacity.
Before joining MKTG, Jeremy was the founder and CEO of 3SIXTY1, a data analytics company established with a single-minded purpose- to help businesses harness the power of internal and external data to form meaningful and actionable insights that, when implemented, improve their commercial performance.
In his 20 year career, Jeremy has worked with several high-profile global organisations, including Virgin Australia, Nike, Toyota, Coca-Cola, NAB, Nestle, Mondelez (Kraft), and Lion Nathan to help develop and execute integrated marketing strategies. Also, Jeremy has worked on major sporting events, including the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the 2007 Asian Games, and the FINA Swimming World Championships.
Jarrad Provis
Jarrad Provis joined MKTG in 2018 after over five years with sister agency Carat where he was Head Of Client Leadership & Operations, driving market leadership and operational management of the Carat Sydney team. An active leader within the industry Jarrad was selected as a mentor for the MFA 5+ program and further represented the business on the industry associations People committee.
Jarrad joined MKTG in the capacity of Client Solutions Partner responsible for client leadership in the Sydney market and developing meaningful integrated marketing solutions for our clients by bringing the best of MKTG's product and capability together.
Over his 17 year career, Jarrad has worked with many of Australia's leading brands with particular call out to Microsoft, General Motors Holden, Mastercard, Mondelez, Jaguar Land Rover, Goodman Fielder, AustralianSuper, Nova Entertainment, UNE, Monash University, Schweppes, Officeworks, Bunnings, JB HiFi and the RSPCA.
Stephanie Rudnick
Before rejoining MKTG, Rudnick led communications and media relations for the XFL, the American football league founded by American entrepreneur and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The league launched with great fanfare in February 2020 but was abruptly shut down at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the XFL, she was the head of global communications for MKTG out of the agency's New York City global HQ and rejoins with the same role, leading from Sydney, where she and her family have relocated. She will also head up the agency's Hospitality and Events offering.
Concurrently, Rudnick will continue to head up PR for Angel City Football Club, Los Angeles' newest professional women's professional soccer team, founded by Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian and his wife Serena Williams, sports legend Billie Jean King, and dozens of actors, activists including Jennifer Garner, Sophia Bush and Eva Longoria, and 14 former members of the US Women's National Soccer team including Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm. The team will take the pitch in Spring 2022.
Throughout her 25 year career, she has worked in a PR capacity with numerous global brands, including American Express, Microsoft, General Motors, Anheuser Busch, and Coca-Cola; run global communications at sports marketing agency Wasserman Media Group, as well as Momentum Worldwide; and held leadership roles at Microsoft and PR firms PMK*HBH, Rogers and Cowan and Edelman.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.