We get it, you’re busy and it’s hard to keep up. Just check out our wrap of this week’s movers and shakers.
JWT MD exits, Everson promted from within
J. Walter Thompson has promoted general manager Paul Everson to managing director in the wake of the departure of current MD Jenny Willits. Willits remains in the agency until the end of August. She is exiting to take up a role outside advertising as CEO of Seven Miles, an Australian coffee business based in the Northern Beaches. Everson first joined the agency in February 2014 as client services director, and was made general manager last year. He has previously held roles at Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and George Patterson. More here.
Initiative's Bunnings lead Goninon leaves to focus on winery
Initiative Melbourne investment partnership director Shane Goninon will leave a 36-year career in media strategy and investment to concentrate on developing his family winery business. Goninon, who started his career in Melbourne in 1981 at MP&M, the forerunner agency to Mitchell & Partners, will leave full-time duties with Initiative at the end of August. Goninon has worked on major clients such as Ansett, Coles, Dunlop and Pacific Brands, and led the media portfolio for major Initiative client Bunnings for the past 16 years. He has also been a senior member of the Initiative Melbourne leadership team. Heath Wooster will replace Goninon as GM for Initiative’s Bunnings business and work closely with Ivo Kavelj, the GM of partnerships for the hardward giant at IPG Mediabrands’ investment division Magna Global.
Ad tech lures creative
Managing partner at international advertising agency network M&C Saatchi Australia, Chris Yong, has left the business after less than a year. According to Yong's LinkedIn profile he is now an enterprise account executive at Salesforce. Yong, who was MD at independent creative shop Archibald/Williams for just over two years before moving to M&C, joined the ad agency in November 2016. At M&C Yong led the IAG account and brand platform for the country’s largest insurer.
CX at the core
Sydney-based independent The Core Agency has launched a new customer experience (CX) offering and has brought on a former chief marketing officer to spearhead the venture. A CRM, loyalty and brand specialist, Rob Kain joins The Core Agency after spending the past nine years in senior marketing roles, most recently as CMO for the Anytime Fitness Group. Prior to that he was general manager - marketing for Super Retail Group’s Rebel and Amart businesses. Prior to that he was GM marketing, CRM and insight at the Specialty Fashion Group. The agency says it’s investing in CX and digital specialists to meet the increasing demand from clients that require greater strategic insight into the customer journey. The agency has created a bespoke end-to-end approach designed to unearth and unlock greater customer value and loyalty. MD at The Core Agency, Jane Callister, says there’s “far too much waffle and buzzword bingo” in the CX space, so Kain, given his straightforward customer-first approach, is a breath of fresh air.
Top creatives return to NZ
Beth O’Brien and Thomas Darlow have returned to New Zealand to take creative group head roles at Colenso BBDO NZ. O’Brien was lured back to Colenso after a successful stint in New York as an associate creative director at R/GA and Droga5, where her and her partner created some of the country’s highest profile work. During the most contested election in US history, The New York Times and Forbes Magazine labelled their ‘Role Models’ spot for Hillary Clinton “a masterpiece of political advertising” and a “Hall of Fame-level” ad. She’s won more than 40 national and international awards, including New Zealand’s only ever a black pencil for K9FM, which she made at Colenso before leaving to the States. Darlow returns from five years at R/GA NY. His We Are America campaign has been viewed more than 120 million times and is up for an Emmy at this year’s awards. His last year’s Mamba Day campaign for Nike was the most successful shoe launch in history. The campaigns picked up five lions at this year’s Cannes festival, and made him half of the R/GA network’s most awarded team globally.
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