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.
Mark Pejic to exit IPG Mediabrands
IPG Mediabrands chairman Mark Pejic is set to leave his Melbourne-based role to explore other opportunities. Pejic, who was former CEO of GroupM's MediaCom from 2003-2015, relocated from Sydney to Melbourne in January 2016 to head up IPG Mediabrands' local arm - a sign that IPG was increasing its focus on the Melbourne market. Speaking to AdNews, Pejic said he has enjoyed his time at the business and is happy with the position IPG Mediabrands is in. He says while he has not lined up a new role as yet, he will be staying within media and is open to relocating back to Sydney. Read more here.
Di Richardson returns from IPG US for top OMD Melbourne job
Di Richardson has left her US-based exec VP chief strategy officer role at IPG Mediabrands' agency UM and will start her new role as MD of OMD Melbourne in February next year. Richardson, who replaces former long-serving OMD Melbourne boss Margie Reid, was part of Tajer's Aussie 'brain drain' gang that headed to the US for senior roles in 2015. Reid joined creative indie shop Thinkerbell as managing partner The infamous siphoning of Australian media talent occurred when the then CEO of IPG Mediabrands Henry Tajer left Sydney for the New York-based global CEO role. Shortly after he tapped a raft of top Australian talent for global roles with IPG. Read more here.
Wavemaker appoints Brisbane general manager
Wavemaker has appointed Maria Poulton to the newly created role of general manager of its Brisbane office. Poulton was most recently business and operations director of Mindshare Japan and has been part of the Mindshare family since 2004, spending nine years in Mindshare Sydney working across a variety of sectors and key accounts, including Kellogg, Kimberly Clark, Diageo, HSBC, ING Direct, Tourism New Zealand, Boehringer, American Express and Group SEB. Wavemaker, the new identity of merged MEC + Maxus, officially opened in November this year.
Clemenger promotes Nick Garrett to joint Sydney and Melbourne CEO
Clemenger Melbourne boss Nick Garrett has been named CEO of Clemenger Sydney as current CEO Andy Pontin prepares to exit the business next year, AdNews can reveal. He will now take over leadership of Sydney and Melbourne. Garrett was appointed Clemenger Melbourne CEO in 2015, replacing Peter Biggs. Prior to that he was CEO of Colenso BBDO in New Zealand. AdNews understands staff were briefed this morning of the new leadership. Read more here.
Sunita Gloster to leave Ten
Ten's chief commercial and strategy officer Sunita Gloster is to leave the network tomorrow, AdNews can reveal, as regulatory head Annabelle Herd is promoted to chief operating officer, effective immediately. AdNews understands Gloster decided to leave Ten after the scope of her role changed since CBS acquired the business and the decision to depart was amicable on both sides. Gloster accepted the chief commercial and strategy officer role in May before Ten had entered into voluntary administration and was subsequently bought out by CBS Corporation last month. She officially began her role in August. Read more here.
Stan marketing director Melanie Novacan departs
Stan marketing director Melanie Novacan has exited the business after two years. Novacan has been with the company since it first launched in 2015. Prior to Stan, she held roles at ING Direct, CommBank, Telstra and Bigpond. AdNews understands the SVOD service is currently looking for her replacement.
Nick Andrews departs Lavender
Nick Andrews has departed Lavender after just a year at the CX agency. Andrews joined in November 2016 as a strategy partner, following a six year stint at DDB. CEO Roy Capon tells AdNews the agency mutually split with Andrews a month ago as Lavender moves towards a flatter structure and restructures its strategy team. Andrews was a central part of Lavender’s consulting arm, Lavender consult, where he worked with head of experience design, Eric Folger, who has also moved on.
Nine poaches Initiative Perth boss Clive Bingwa
Nine has poached Initiative Perth boss Clive Bingwa to lead its Perth business. Meanwhile IPG Mediabrands has announced his replacements as Luke O’Sullivan as head of Initiative and Judi van Omme as general manager. He takes on the newly created role of MD and sales director at the network and replaces former MD Ray Wardrop. Bingwa is a power player in the region and was named MD of Initiative Perth in 2015 in addition to his role as MD of IPG Mediabrands in the region and has led the agency’s strong growth since then. Read more here.
RhythmOne APAC MD Adam Furness to exit
APAC MD of global digital ad tech company RhythmOne, Adam Furness, has resigned from his role in order to pursue new opportunities, AdNews can reveal. RhythmOne (R1) was formerly RadiumOne up until June, when R1 bought the tech platform. At the time the deal saw Asia-Pacific boss Kerry McCabe exit and in August Furness moved from his Australia and New Zealand role into an APAC role – but still based in Sydney. Read more here.
Guardian Australia hunts MD as CEO Ian McClelland returns to UK
The Guardian Australia CEO Ian McClelland is set to move back to the UK to take up a new role as managing director of corporate development at Guardian Media Group. Evelyn Webster, current interim Guardian US CEO, has been appointed as CEO of both Guardian US and Guardian Australia. McClelland spent five years setting up the media company in Sydney and the business is now on the hunt for an MD to lead the national office. Read more here.
Nuffnang MD moves to Hypetap as business closes
Influencer business Nuffnang is withdrawing from Australia and will close its Melbourne office next year as part of an ownership restructure. As a result, Melbourne-based influencer business Hypetap will absorb a significant portion of the Nuffnang staff, including managing director Chris Morfis, who joins as general manager. Morfis had been at Nuffnang for just over a year, replacing managing director Felicity Grey in 2016. Read more here.
Volvo top marketer joins Fairfax
Volvo's top marketer Oliver Peagam is departing the business to join Fairfax as head of auto in its newly formed commercial team, AdNews can reveal. Peagam has been with the automotive business for since 2012 and in the role of marketing director for four years. Fairfax's new commercial strategy sees the creation of a team of specialists dedicated to 10 of its largest advertising segments, including auto, retail, tourism, finance and more. Read more here.
Orchard adds seven new staff
Orchard has appointed seven new staff from Ogilvy, DDB, MullenLowe Profero and McCann. Katie McAllister joins Orchard in project management, Max Cahill joins the account management team, Gareth Kleinman has been named senior insights and analytics strategist, Tamsin Ridgwell comes across as business director, Katrina Leo joins as digital producer, Tom Twiby joins the design team and Diana Vo has been named project co-ordinator. The new hires follow the win of the Hyundai and Schwarzkopf digital accounts.
Yahoo7 appoints new sales directors
Yahoo7 has appointed Clare Rudduck to the new role of NSW sales director and Rachel Page will become sales director for both Victoria and Queensland. Page joined the company from Pandora to lead the Victorian sales team earlier this year and Rudduck previously managed Yahoo7’s relationship with GroupM in NSW. The internal promotions and new sales team structure signals a move towards greater state-based commercial leadership for Yahoo7. Liz Adeniji will also now head up the integrated sales team for programmatic platforms, Brightroll and One by AOL. This new team will operate in market under the banner of 'Oath Platform Sales'.
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