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.
Finecast adds to team
GroupM’s Finecast has made two senior hires as the business continues to grow. The addressable TV unit has appointed Matt Stephens as head of client engagement and Georgina Fox as head of operations. Stephens is responsible for driving the growth of Finecast and working with agencies and clients to drive understanding of the role of Addressable TV to deliver results as part of a modern media strategy. In her new role, Fox is responsible for managing supply partnerships for Finecast and leading the operations team that implements all Addressable TV campaigns at GroupM.
PHD promotes Annabel Gelardi
PHD announced the promotion of Annabel Gelardi to group trading director from trading director. She gained experience working at Starcom and MediaCom before settling at PHD more than five years ago.
MFA re-appoints Virginia Hyland
The Media Federation of Australia (MFA) announced the re-appointment of Virginia Hyland to the board directors. The industry body also has new chairs for MFA Finance, MFA Interactive, MFA 5+ Melbourne and NGEN Sydney Committees. Virginia Hyland, recently named CEO of Havas Media Group Australia following Havas’ acquisition of Hyland Media in 2020, returns after two lots of two-year terms as an independent director. She stepped down at the end of 2019.
OMD elevates Thomas Hutley
Thomas Hutley has been promoted to national head of OMD Create, a specialised business unit dedicated to creative solutions including content marketing, sponsorships, social, innovation and sports partnerships. Hutley launched OMD Create in 2018 and has led the Sydney arm for three continuous years, which has delivered growth and award winning work for OMD clients. He will now oversee the OMD Create product across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane leading a team of 32 people. Hutley is tasked with expanding OMD Create’s capabilities nationally.
Initiative makes senior appointments
Initiative announced two senior appointments to elevate the agency’s digital and client service capabilities. Ricardo Carreira has been appointed national head of digital partnerships and Paola Cracknell has joined as Sydney head of client service. Cracknell was previously global head of culture partnerships for Red Bull, overseeing 44-plus countries based at the company’s global headquarters in Austria. Ricardo Carreira takes his national role following a successful stint as head of digital at Initiative Perth for the past two and a half years. He joined Initiative from Optus, bringing extensive experience from senior digital marketing positions. His broard experience on both agency and client-side also includes digital marketing, technology and data-analytics leadership on brands such as iiNet, Amaysim, RAC and Tourism Western Australia.
Simon Hadfield takes on new job
Well-known advertising industry recruiter Simon Hadfield has joined DMCG Global as managing partner at its new Sydney office. The creative, marketing, digital and technology industry specialist firm says Hadfield will play an integral part of growing and leading the team in this region, Hadfield has more than 25 years of industry experience across the advertising, creative, media and marketing sectors. He has worked with Saatchi & Saatchi London, DDB Sydney, BWM Dentsu and UM.
R/GA hires global CMO
R/GA has named Ashish Prashar as its global chief marketing officer. The former global communications leader at Publicis Sapient and justice reform activist will start on March 2. As global chief marketing officer Prashar will oversee the global marketing function for R/GA with responsibility for market strategy, brand, and corporate communications. With over 15 years of experience, Prashar joins R/GA from Publicis Sapient, the digital business transformation hub of Publicis.
Jonathan Betts joins Nielsen Media Australia
Jonathan Betts has been appointed executive director, commercial growth and product strategy, at Nielsen Media Australia. He has more than 20 years experience at both digital and full service media agencies, with expertise and insight into advertisers across categories such as financial services, technology, automotive, government and retail.
Tribal bolsters production and design
Tribal has continued to grow its offering with a number of senior hires across production and design. Among the new hires is Jye Calder who joins as senior digital producer with extensive experience in project management and process development previously working at Innocean and Leo Burnett. Sebastian Bennett-Leat has been appointed as project manager from CHE Proximity where he worked across clients including Danone, ING, NRMA and Velocity. Alice Fisher, who joins as senior producer, has worked across a number of Australian agencies, including Spark44, VMLY&R and WhiteGrey. Other key hires include Alexandra Lawton as business director, Fabien Clemencey as digital design director, Rodney Chan as a senior end devleoper and Andy Russell as senior copywriter. Rounding out the team Jessica Taylor and Lacey Watkins join as account executive and digital producer, respectively.
Dentsu exec joins VERSA
Conversational agency VERSA has announced the appointment of Michael Di Natale as managing director. He has been appointed to drive the agency’s ambitious growth plan to digitally transform organisations through the power of conversational AI across headquarters in Australia, alongside more recent operations set up in the USA and India. Di Natale, or ‘DiNa’ as he’s widely known, has spent more than 15 years working in the digital and consulting space. He joins VERSA after a decade within the Dentsu Aegis Network (now dentsu), most recently as executive director of experience strategy and consulting (Dentsu Solutions). He also previously worked at Accenture and has been an active supporter and advisor to several startups including Plunge mobile app, Active Work Balance and myBrainCo.
Qualtrics' new country manager
Customer experience tech company Qualtrics had appointed Jason Laufer as country manager for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). In this role Laufer will lead the company’s operations in ANZ as Qualtrics embarks on its next phase of growth. He will lead the 200-plus strong Qualtrics team in ANZ and work closely with the company's customers, employees, and partners to help them design and improve experiences. Laufer brings more than 20 years’ experience in senior leadership roles in the software industry including at LinkedIn, IBM, and Microsoft.
The Works appoints AWARD School grads
The Works have appointed AWARD School graduates Katy Hulton and Elly Pipiciello to further strengthen its creative team following new business and organic client growth. Copywriter Hulton and art director Pipiciello were named top 10 students in New South Wales in the AWARD School class of 2020. Before joining The Works and completing AWARD School, Hulton worked at The Idea Shed in account management. Pipiciello was a graphic designer, marketing assistant and creative lead at in-home aged care and disability support services business Just Better Care for more than three years.
Now We Collide strengthens team
Independent creative agency Now We Collide has announced a string of new promotions and hires. Current senior creative producer and strategist Naomi Young has been promoted to client services director and will work alongside CEO and managing partner Keir Maher in managing client relationships and steering positive business outcomes for Now We Collide clients. Young will be supported by a new producer and account management team featuring new hires Sally Muul and Amy Watson. Muul joins from DDB where she was account manager and Watson joins from Chello where she was leading production as a producer and account manager. The agency has also invested in new creative roles with current senior art director Kurt Toohey being promoted to creative director.
The Edison Agency hires CD and GM
The Edison Agency has appointed Andrew Ashton as creative director. Ashton is a national and internationally awarded creative leader, writer, mentor, educator and designer, and joins the Edison team with the goal of supporting the agency’s growth trajectory and reshape the creative offer. Ashton is one of several key appointments including the agency’s first general manager Michael Tsapazi.
Inlight creates new roles
Melbourne based digital services business Inlight has hired Tom Webster as partner services manager to help drive the growth within the Inlight Partner Network and collaborate with its partners. The business has also made two additional appointments, in newly created roles, to bolster client service and strategy credentials. Nick Sutcliffe joins as digital product strategist and Sophie Bisset joins as account director.
Soulfresh appoints chief marketer
Soulfresh has appointed Michael Davies as chief marketing officer. In his new role, Davies is tasked with spearheading the food and beverage brand’s international growth across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Davies has previously worked at Mars as marketing director in the UK, as well as director of Mars Wrigley M&A and ventures in Chicago. He will be based in Melbourne for his new role.
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