It's hard to keep up with all the latest moves across media, marketing and advertising, so we've made a list. Check out the biggest moves in adland this week.
GumGum hires industry exec
GumGum has hired former Pacific and Nine executive Grant Bingham as its sales director for Australia and New Zealand. Bingham was previously commercial partnership director at publishing house Pacific and has also worked at Nine as director of programmatic sales. In his new role at the AI company, Bingham will work with GumGun Melbourne’s sales manager Cian Evans to drive adoption of the ad tech firm’s offering, focusing particularly on its new programmatic-focused sales model it switched to earlier this year.
McCann Sydney nabs BWM CMO
Former BWM Dentsu CMO Jess Tarpey has resurfaced at McCann Sydney as managing partner. In her previous role at BWM Dentsu, Tarpey co-chaired and drove the development of the creative industry’s first Reconciliation Action Plan, a document designed to help build a bridge between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous community. Prior to her role at BWM Dentsu, Tarpey worked for the Havas Network in both Sydney and London offices.
Another Dentsu talent resurface
Media agency Bohemia has named Vizeum’s Tessa Mahoney as its media director. Mahoney joins the M&C Saatchi Group-owned agency after leaving Dentsu’s Vizeum where she was client director. She has more than a decade of experience across Australia, New Zealand and the UK work with clients from categories including fast-moving consumer goods, financial services, auto and beauty.
Nine names new CFO
Nine has appointed Paul Koppelman as chief financial officer. Reporting to Nine CEO Hugh Marks, Koppelman joins after the recent departure of Greg Barnes. Koppelman is new to the media industry, having previously worked at the ASX-listed Aconex as CFO, up until its acquisition by Oracle. Prior to this, he was the CFO through the IPO process at Medibank Private Limited, and of the Global Aluminium (UK) and Commercial (Netherlands) Groups at BHP.
Annalect hires for Melbourne
Schalk van der Sandt is joining Annalect Australia as the new head of Melbourne operations. Annalect is Omnicom Media Group's (OMG) global data and technology business. Schalk has more than 18 years’ experience in digital marketing. He will oversee a team of eight and will focus on bringing sophisticated solutions to clients across the PHD, OMD and Hearts & Science agency brands in Melbourne. He previously worked at Omnicom's PHD in Melbourne as its digital lead for the last seven years.
Affinity restructures
Independent full-service agency Affinity dumped the traditional account management department and added three senior hires. Lisa Christie has been named group media director; Giorgia Butler takes on the role of senior strategist, brand director; and Russell Smyth is creative director. Christie brings more than 30 years’ experience to the agency and has worked as co-founder and client services director at Ikon Communications and strategy director at Starcom MediaVest Group. Butler has worked as strategy director at Ogilvy Australia and VMLY&R in Sydney, and spent eight years in New York. Smyth's industry experience spans more than 20 years as a long-standing CD at both Batey Ads,The Campaign Palace and at Ogilvy & Mather.
Hearts & Science promotes Luke Hutchinson
Omnicom Media Group's (OMG) newest media agency Hearts & Science (Hearts) has promoted Luke Hutchinson to chief investment officer. Hutchinson will be based in Sydney as he takes on the national role. He first joined OMG in 2017. He will report directly to CEO Jeremy Bolt and work closely with Sydney managing director Wendy Gower and Melbourne managing director Richard Smith.
Red Havas on a hiring spree
PR, social and brand experience agency Red Havas has made a series of promotions and new hires. Following the agency’s recent rebrand which focuses on data and creativity, Alex Erasmus has been named national head of strategy. Erasmus has more than a decade’s experience in PR and digital marketing. Reema Babakhan has been appointed to the newly created role of practice head, travel, tourism, sports and leisure. Moving to Sydney following stints at Ogilvy, Frank and Synergy in the UK, Babakhan brings more than 15 years of experience.Aiza Rusli and Candi Hindocha have also joined as account directors.
WeThinkMedia continues expansion
Independent media agency WeThinkMedia has appointed both Nerisse Barcelon and Sudha Moston as senior partnerships managers. Moston has previously worked at Sports Heroes Group, Val Morgan Outdoor for 12 years and at News Corp Australia. Barcelon joins from Ink, where she was senior advertising manager for five years. She has also worked for Inspire Publishing in Singapore and Alveo Land Corporation in the Philippines.
Thrive covers Asia
Independent PR agency Thrive PR + Communications has announced the launch of a specialist Asian communications division. The agency has appointed Diana Pong as its Asian communications lead, with an initial focus on working with Chinese brands who are entering or building their presence in Australia and New Zealand. Pong brings more than 20 years’ PR agency experience to the role, having held senior roles with Edelman and WE, and as managing director of global PR agency Cohn & Wolfe (now known as BCW) in Hong Kong. She will lead a team including social media expert Chloe Lu, who joins Thrive with extensive experience in digital marketing and social media engagement across Chinese platforms including Weibo, WeChat and Little Red Book.
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