Unruly hires Amnet's Heath Irving as new head of programmatic
Unruly has appointed Amnet programmatic strategist Heath Irving to lead its programmatic offering in Australia and New Zealand. As head of programmatic and partnerships AUNZ, Irving will be tasked with driving awareness and uptake of the UnrulyX programmatic product set across the AUNZ market as well as developing relationships. Irving joins from Amnet (Dentsu) where he has spent the last three years providing programmatic guidance, training and devising bespoke solutions for tier one clients. Irving comes with more than eight years of experience in the programmatic space at publishers, agency trade desk and ad tech vendors such as Fairfax Media and Yahoo7. He will be based at the News Corp-owned company’s Sydney headquarters and will report directly to Ricky Chanana, Unruly’s AUNZ managing director.
Tim Whitfield to resurface at ad tech business
Former GroupM head of operations and technology Tim Whitfield is set to reappear at indie buy-side ad platform Sizmek, AdNews understands. Despite no comment from the business, it's thought Whitfield will move into an APAC position. Whitfield's exit from the WPP business was revealed by AdNews last month and at the time, he was said to have been 'taking some time out'.His arrival follows a few secret squirrel moves at Sizmek with its Sydney-based GM Kees de Jong quietly exiting for am EMEA GM role last month, with country manager Damien Thomson taking his role. Read more.
Cummins&Partners promotes Matt Rose as Katie Firth departs
Cummins&Partners has promoted Matt Rose to lead its account management and integration teams, after a six-month stint leading some of the agency's largest accounts. Rose will look to expand the AM and IM function, with a strong focus on the full-service offering after a period of rapid growth and pitch wins over the last eight months including Kraft Heinz, Golden Circle, McCain Foods, Sarah Lea, Repco, Simonds Group and Delos. Prior to the role, Rose had been Melbourne managing director at Zoo Group, after initially joining the agency as part of a relaunch alongside ECD Alex Wadelton, he departed in mid-2017. Rose now replaces Katie Firth Cummins&Partners, who leaves to take up a role with TBWA. Read more.
Nicole McInnes resurfaces at telco startup, OVO
Former Pandora, eHarmony and WooliesX marketing director Nicole McInnes has joined telco startup OVO as its first chief marketing officer. It's McInnes fourth position in four years, having left Pandora in 2016 for eHarmony - a role which she stayed in for 18 months - to join Woolworths X, Woolworth's digital arm. It was revealed in April the top marketer had left her post at Woolworths after just six months. OVO runs through the Optus network and is a small scale prepaid mobile provider. It currently has 60,000 mobile subscribers. CEO Matt Jones says he's been after McInnes before the business was off the ground. Read more.
Matt White appointed head of sport at Ten
Network Ten has appointed Matt White to the new role of head of sport, reporting to chief content officer, Beverley McGarvey. White’s new position is in addition to his on-air role at Ten, including hosting Supercars, Rugby and Australian Formula One Grand Prix coverage and the weekly magazine program RPM. White’s extensive media career includes more than a decade at Ten, where he worked as a sport reporter and weekend host of Sports Tonight. Adam Cush has also been promoted to the role of director of sport production. Cush has been a key member of the sport department for almost a decade and will continue to lead its production, commercial and business affairs functions, working closely with White. Read more.
Gary McCreadie exits Ugly after less than a year
Ugly creative partner Gary McCreadie is departing the M&C Saatchi-backed agency after less than a year. Formed in April 2017, McCreadie started the agency alongside Hazelle Klønhammer and Ross Berthinussen. Prior to Ugly, McCreadie worked at TBWA for three years and will now exit for another opportunity, AdNews understands.Ugly describes itself as an “ideas company”, boasting a progressive model in comparison to traditional agency structures. While partly owned by M&C Saatchi, Ugly maintains its independently led. The agency released its first work in September last year for clothing brand Ozmosis, which encouraged people to show their scars from surfing or skating accidents. Read more.
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