Initiative Melbourne head of strategy Sérgio Brodsky has exited the business following a strategy department restructure.
Brodsky, who joined the business in April last year, moved across from Starcom where he had held the role of group strategy director.
Initially brought on to drive further growth in the Melbourne, Brodsky's departure now leaves the agency with the task of finding a different approach to the lucrative market.
A spokesperson for IPG Mediabrands told AdNews the role will not be replaced, with Initiative’s national chief strategy officer Sam Geer taking direct oversight of strategy resources and development going forward.
“Initiative is placing new emphasis on strategy and focusing our resources more within our day to day client teams,"an agency spokesperson says.
"This new positioning has impacted Sergio Brodsky’s role as head of strategy for Initiative Melbourne and he has left the agency."
Brodsky, a leading industry strategist and commentator, previously told AdNews agencies shouldn’t stamp out their heritage and swap their name simply to reflect the push towards consultancy-like services.
Brodsky’s comments follow a number of media and creative agencies branding themselves ‘consultancy’ agencies, or forming consultancy units, in response to the likes of PwC and Accenture moving more into the marketing realm.
This is the second senior agency departure in the Melbourne market in as many months, with AdNews revealing last month that The Media Store CEO Craig Jepsen had exited the business after nearly three years in the role.
AdNews understands there has been significant movement within Melbourne over the past six months, with independent agencies beginning to snare significant clients, as holding groups look to maintain existing accounts.
Joining Bohemia Melbourne in February this year, media director Sam Westaway previously told AdNews that indie agencies had begun drawing battle lines between their teams and the holding groups.
Bohemia Melbourne's big wins this year have included acccounts such as Harris Scarfe, Racing Victoria and Plush.
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