Media agency Initiative has announced the appointments of Sarah O’Leary as managing director and Tom Cumberworth as head of partnerships to Rufus Powered by Initiative.
Rufus is Amazon’s dedicated media and communications agency working across retail, device, Flex, Amazon Web Services and Prime Video.
O’Leary has a strong media investment background garnered from 15-years in senior management and director roles both agency and marketing-side.
Previously with Atomic 212 as head of client service and planning, O'Leary has also served as business director at Havas Melbourne.
Melissa Fein, CEO of Initiative Australia, said: "Sarah has a proven track record of leading senior stakeholder relationships and delivering business growth in today’s complex and fast-moving market. We’re delighted she has accepted the opportunity to lead Rufus at a pivotal time in the agency’s growth and momentum.
O’Leary said: “Initiative’s and Rufus’ strong market reputation for both product and culture is second to none; this coupled with both agencies enjoying a strong growth trajectory made the opportunity to join the team an opportunity of a lifetime.
“I am passionate about consumer behaviour and love to delve into data to solve business problems; and I’m looking forward to driving and developing market leading solutions for Amazon and its brands through innovation, collaboration and partnership.”
Cumberworth’s primary remit will be to lead senior media partner relationships and deliver strong growth outcomes for Amazon. Additionally, he will play a key leadership role spearheading negotiation strategy and investment decisioning on all Rufus client negotiations and activations.
With nearly 15-years of global and local experience, Cumberworth was previously group trading director at OMD Sydney. Previously, he was with Mindshare and MEC in the UK commencing in 2008 as a TV buyer and moving to an account director role.
Fein: “Tom is an outstanding team leader with a raft of global and local experience managing and leading specialist buying teams across all media platforms, inclusive of TV, VOD, OOH, Radio and more. He will play a leading role in Rufus, Amazon and our media partners’ future successes.
“Sarah and her team have an established industry reputation for craft, creative innovation, and client servicing and I’m confident with their industry knowledge and zeal for innovation and solving client problems, combined with the calibre of the Rufus team, that the agency will be well positioned to bring the full spectrum of its capabilities to life.”
O’Leary and Cumberworth’s appointments are effective immediately.
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