Initiative Sydney has made several key leadership appointments, including heads of digital and partnerships, as the agency continues to transform its Australian operations.
Ian Smith has been appointed head of partnerships, and will lead across the agencies partnership portfolios investment, content, activations and sport. Smith joins from IPG Mediabrand's brand experience agency Ensemble, where he was commercial director, and will continue to provide support to Ensemble, which is a highly integrated business within the Mediabrands group.
In a 16-year career, Smith has experience in commercial strategies and negotiations, dynamic and programmatic trading, sports rights negotiations and the development of broadcast and digital partnerships. He has previously worked at TV networks Nine and Ten.
Former Nine Entertainment Company digital lead Andrew Cambridge has joined as head of digital and will partner with the agency’s strategy, creative, activation and investment leads to develop communications platforms for clients. Cambridge has previously worked at Ninemsn and Fox Interactive in sales and digital roles.
Nick Wokes joins Initiative Sydney as a client group director. He has more than 13 years of media experience with Mediacom, Match and Drifter in Sydney and with Zenith in New York, where he led media strategy for major corporates,including IKEA, Maserati, Toshiba and JP Morgan Chase.
“Bringing high calibre experience into the agency is a top priority for us in Sydney and in Australia,” Initiaitive Sydney MD Marcelle Gomez. “We have been very selective in terms of choosing talented leadership for our clients’ benefit and for the agency teams as we work towards a unique positioning in the market.”
Initiative's transformation is major focus for parent company IPG Mediabrands this year. Last year, the agency appointed Melissa Fein as the new national CEO, Tristan Burrell as chief strategy officer and Shaun Briggs and Melbourne MD.
This year, Michael Stanford has joined as the agency's first chief creative solutions officer, a sign the agency will take a more creatively-led direction that considers the role emotion plays on consumer decisions.
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