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.
Publicis Media boosts investment arm
Publicis Media's investment arm Publicis Media Exchange (PXM) has bolstered its position in market following the announcement of three new hires. The hires include the former head of commercial investment and innovations for Dentsu Aegis Network-owned investment agency Amplifi, Sam Zadgan. He will take on a newly created role as PMX's general manager, commercial. Joining Zadgan will also be Brooke Aniseko, who will head up Publicis Media’s programmatic offering, Precision Media, as commercial director of performance. Xavier Pons has been appointed business insights director.
Wavemaker promotes its Sydney trading director
Wavemaker Australia has promoted Philippa Noilea-Tani to the role of national head of investment, charged with leading the agency’s trading and investment strategy across all four Wavemaker offices. Noilea-Tani has been with the agency since 2005, working as a media assistant for former business MEC, working her way up and eventually taking on her most recent role as Sydney trading director. She has worked across a vast range of categories, including entertainment, FMCG, retail, communications, insurance, pharmaceuticals, finance and government.
Domain scraps CMO role
Domain has elected not to replace the company's vacant CMO position, revealing it has hired LJ Hooker's Jason Chuck to take on the role of chief consumer officer. The move will see the CMO role absorbed into Chuck's remit. Most recently he has been heading up real estate agency LJ Hooker's full-service real estate platform Avnu. He also has extensive tech and marketing experience, holding roles such as head of marketing for Google ANZ and managing director of online dating platform eHarmony in Australia and the UK.
Howatson to lead Clemenger Brisbane
Clemenger Brisbane has revealed it will restructure its operations in Queensland following the departure of managing director Rob Hudson, scraping the role entirely. Assuming responsibility for the overall direction of the agency is current CHE Proximity CEO Chris Howatson, who will now take on the leadership of both agencies. Marianne O’Brien and Cristian Staal have been promoted to managing partners - creative and Christine Gannon promoted to managing partner - client service to form the agency’s new leadership team. Partnering with Howatson will be former Sydney Swans Football Club CEO, Andrew Ireland, who joins the agency in a part-time capacity.
Pedestrian founders exit as Nine appoints new CEO
Nine has named former Fairafx senior executive Matt Rowley as Pedestrian Group CEO and Chris Nardi as director of sales - publishing. Rowley was Fairfax’s chief revenue officer before its merger with Nine, after which he lead its publishing sales arm. In his new role, which he begins on 15 April, he joins managing director Brian Florido and publisher Vanessa Lawrence to form the brand’s leadership team. As part of the appointment, Nardi steps into the sales role and is responsible for Nine print and digital publications including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
CHE Proximity’s new role
Mark Gretton has been promoted to chief technology officer as CHE Proximity scales further into consultancy. Gretton has been with the agency since 2016, when he joined as director. His role as director involved overseeing Clemenger Group's digital consulting practice The Brightsmiths and heading up CHE Proximity’s technology team. He has also previously worked at Coles Liquor, Ford and Ogilvy & Mather.
ARN continues restructure
Australian Radio Network (ARN) has continued its restructure with the appointment of Rich Howells as national digital commercial director. Howells will lead the further development of ARN’s multi-platform commercial strategy across digital assets including all station sites, The Roar and iHeartRadio. With more than 14 years’ experience in digital marketing, he previously worked at Amobee where he was group operations director for the APAC region.
R/GA names MD
R/GA has appointed CHE Proximity’s Michael Titshall as VP, managing director of Australia. Titshall has been with CHE Proximity since 2014, and spent the last three years as MD of its Melbourne office. He’s also worked in senior roles across Australian agency Sputnik and the UK’s DigitasLBi London, before returning home and setting up digital consultancy MTC Digital. In his new role starting 3 May, Titshall will split his time between the agency’s two Australian offices, Melbourne and Sydney, overseeing a combined client roster and growing teams.
WhiteGrey reveals new ECDs
WhiteGrey has appointed creative duo Garret Fitzgerald and Joe Hill as its Melbourne executive creative directors. They will lead the Melbourne creative team and work with its strategy and management team to provide support to clients. They will also work closely with the agency’s Sydney office. Fitzgerald and Hill have worked as a team for more than seven years, most recently at CHE Proximity. They have also worked at BMF and Leo Burnett.
GroupM expands Finecast team
GroupM has announced two new hires at its addressable TV business Finecast. Patricia Munoz and Sheryl Chen will join the team as client strategy managers. Munoz will be based in Sydney and joins from GroupM agency Essence where she spearheaded the agency’s early advanced TV strategies. Chen joins from Xaxis and will be based in Melbourne. '
The Works bolsters team
The Works has appointed two senior creatives and a project lead following a string of business wins. Copywriter Alec Jankowski and art director Jimmy Zimmerman join the team as creative leads. The American creative duo moved to Australia in 2016, initially working at CHE Proximity in Melbourne before taking on roles as associate creative directors at AnalogFolk in Sydney for more than two years. Daniela Altiparmakova has been appointed as a creative project lead. She returns to Sydney after almost two years as senior account director at R/GA in Melbourne working on Toyota. She has also worked at 303 MullenLowe Sydney, Saatchi & Saatchi, Dare in London and Ogilvy.
Heckler appoints new creative producer
Design, animation and visual effects house Heckler has appointed Catherine Terracini as creative producer. Prior to joining Heckler, Terracini worked on the documentary 'Brabham' about Australian Formula 1 legend Jack Brabham. She is also currently working on an ABC documentary on advertising greats Alan Morris and Allan Johnston and has worked on a number of large scale international projects including content for News Corps' Come Together 2019.
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