Movers & Shakers: Nine, UM, Ogilvy, Havas Media

By AdNews | 5 March 2021

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.

Nine's new CEO
Nine Entertainment has appointed Mike Sneesby as its new CEO. Sneesby, the CEO of Stan, replaces Hugh Marks who announced in November last year he would be stepping down after five years running the media group. Sneesby has led the streaming platform Stan since its inception in 2013. He has also previously led the Microsoft/Nine ecommerce joint venture, Cudo, as CEO until its sale in 2013.

Fiona Johnston's replacement announced at UM
The new CEO of UM Australia is Anathea Ruys, replacing Fiona Johnston. Ruys has a 25-year international career in media business leadership and is currently executive vice president and managing director of Carat West Coast and Mid-West USA, as well as the lead of Dentsu’s West Coast office. Johnston has been promoted to chief growth officer, Mediabrands, Global/EMEA, a new international role, and will move to the UK. Ruys was managing director of Mindshare Melbourne from 2012 to 2014, previously managing director of Clemenger Harvie Edge and before that managing director of Spark PR Group.

The Ogilvy Australia Network
WPP AUNZ today announced the formation of the Ogilvy Australia Network. Leading the Ogilvy AU network is a newly created executive team, working alongside with WPP AUNZ and Ogilvy’s global leadership. Sally Kissane has been promoted to CEO Ogilvy Agency to replace David Fox who was recently named CEO for Ogilvy MENA. Kissane most recently served as managing director for Ogilvy Australia. Richard Brett, current opr CEO, expands his role as CEO for Ogilvy PR and Ogilvy Health. Jason Davey, currently head of experience technology, will lead Ogilvy’s Innovation and Experience businesses, becoming chief experience and innovation officer for the Ogilvy AU network. Dave Sayer, currently chief operations and talent officer at Ogilvy Australia and chief operations officer for WPP AU’s creative agencies, broadens his remit as chief operations officer for the Ogilvy AU Network.

Emma Montgomery returns to Australia
Leo Burnett Australia has appointed Emma Montgomery to the role of CEO, Leo Burnett Sydney. She starts mid-March. This appointment is a return for Montgomery to Leo Burnett, where she was head of strategy in Sydney from 2014 to 2016 and later held the position of president and chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett in Chicago. She has most recently been in the role of global co-chief strategy officer for TBWA/Worldwide based in Los Angeles. Montgomery has spent most of her 20-plus year career in the Publicis Groupe. Before Leo Burnett, she was with Starcom for 16 years, working in Australia as a strategic planner, national research director and strategy director, and later with SMG as a global product director.

 

Havas Media promotes Danni Dimitri
Havas Media Group has announced the appointment of Danni Dimitri as head of strategy, Sydney. This is a promotion for Dimitri who has held the title of Havas Media Group strategy director since 2018. Dimitri’s 13 years industry experience spans senior strategy and communications roles at a number of leading agencies.

CHE Proximity grabs Gavin McLeod from Ogilvy
Ogilvy's Gavin McLeod is moving to CHE Proximity as chief creative officer to replace Ant White. White left with former CEO Chris Howatson to start a new agency. McLeod has been executive creative director at Ogilvy since 2019 when he returned to Australia from San Francisco where he was ECD at AKQA. McLeod, who starts in July, has more than 20 years of experience fostering creative and collaborative cultures at some of the world’s most innovative creative agencies. Previously, McLeod was responsible for opening the Sydney office of R/GA. He has also held creative leadership positions at TBWA Australia and M&C Saatchi Sydney where he rose to ECD digital and direct.

Mat Baxter becomes Initiative global chairman
Australian Mat Baxter has become global chairman of Initiative and will later this year take on a new role at IPG. He has stepped down as CEO of Initiative and IPG plans to place hime in "a new senior role" to be announced in the coming months. Amy Armstrong, the US chief executive for Initiative, replaces him as CEO, a role Baxter has held since since 2016.

Andy DiLallo and Steve Jackson resurface
Former TBWA Sydney chief creative officer Andy DiLallo and Innocean executive creative director Steve Jackson have teamed up to launch Milk & Honey United, a new independent creative shop. DiLallo departed TBWA in July last year, while Jackson exited Innocean in an agency restructure. Together the duo bring experience working across brands from Apple to Samsung, Nike to Commbank, Woolworths to McDonalds, NRMA to Diego, Cadbury, Toyota, Hyundai, Optus and Amazon. The founders say this "new era" indie promises to be a place free from traditional constraints and unburdened by legacy.

Hearts & Science appoints chief digital officer
Hearts & Science, part of Omnicom Media Group (OMG), has appointed Oliver Fifoot as chief digital officer in Australia. He will oversee Hearts’ activation, audience and analytic product at national level, as well as support new business activities. Fifoot has more than 15 years’ experience in digital and data roles in both large and boutique agencies; most recently as head of programmatic and audience. Prior to that Fifoot held a broad range of senior positions, including head of product operations and data and head of data and programmatic for agencies including Dentsu, iProspect and Ikon Communications.

 

 

Facebook Creative Shop names global VP
New Zealand native Nicky Bell has been appointed as global vice president of Facebook’s Creative Shop. Bell joins the social media’s creative team from R/GA, where she spent the last several years working to transform the agency from being a pure “campaign” agency to a “connected brands practice”. Prior to R/GA, she was the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. In her new role, Bell will be responsible for managing a team across 39 global offices and will be based in Los Angeles.

Initiative Perth in a hiring spree
Initiative Perth has announced a series of new hires. Steve Hare joins as group business director. He was previously head of publishing, digital trading and cinema at Initiative UK where he led strategy and investment for top-class marketers including Amazon, Carlsberg, Patek Phillippe, LEGO, Converse, Deliveroo and Premier League. At Initiative Perth Hare, will be client leader for Lotterywest, P&N Bank and Tourism WA, reported to agency managing director Luke O’Sullivan. The media agency has also hired Brianna Wells as senior investment partnerships manager. She joins Initiative from UM Sydney and will focus on RAC Insurance business divisions. Joining Hare and Wells in new roles at Initiative are Sarah Leavesley as investment partnerships executive, Tia Sullivan and Alex Thomassen who both join as investment partnerships associates.

The Hallway has a new Melbourne CD
Independent agency The Hallway has appointed Iain MacMillan as creative director of its Melbourne office following recent business wins and client growth. MacMillan has worked at creative agencies on both sides of the Tasman. Career highlights to date include launching NZ TV Channel Four with Special Group Auckland, and winning gold Lions with Colenso BBDO for Pedigree Selfie Stix and Anchor Milk X-Ray Casts. He joins The Hallway after a recent stint at CHE Proximity Melbourne. MacMillan will work with clients including ANZ, Google and Kmart.

Apparent expands media division
Full service agency Apparent has expanded its dedicated media division with the appointment of Phoebe Chan as head of media and advertising operations and Jaclyn Ely as client partner, media. Apparent’s media division, headed by former Naked Communications and Ikon executive John Halpin, has seen 88% growth over the past 12 months. Chan joins from Publicis Media where she was most recently performance media operations director. Ely, previously general manager at WPP agency Sibling, will provide in-depth media knowledge within the client service team.

New co-presidents for AADC
The Adelaide Advertising and Design Club (AADC) has two new co-presidents; studio manager of Simple Integrated Marketing, Taylor Martin, and managing director of Showpony Melbourne, Jamie Scott. Taylor Martin has held the role of club secretary since 2018. At just 27, she’s one of the youngest and only the second female co-president in the club’s history.

John Gutteridge swaps agency life for sloungewear
John Gutteridge, the former CEO of Wunderman Thompson ANZ, has created a new role for himself -- making premium sloungewear. He left mid last year after working within the agency's global network since 1999. Now he's about to launch MAWDE, a purpose-driven ecommerce business that makes sustainable sloungewear for sleeping, lounging and living-in.

Former Kantar researcher joins Cubery
Cubery, a tech-based market research agency, has announced the appointment of former Kantar head of advertising research, Sam Walters, as general manager, consulting. He joins Cubery with nearly 20 years’ industry experience, heading key global accounts at Kantar, including Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Unilever, and Reckitt Benckiser.

Paper Moose appoints GM
Paper Moose has appointed Graham van der Westhuizen as general manager, to lead the hybrid agency-production house. van der Westhuizen brings a wealth of experience to the agency, from his early years at DDB Sydney, through to establishing and scaling the first Bangkok-based office for UK agency network, Iris Worldwide. Within this he ran all strategy, creative and production for Thai Beverage owned Chang Beer both locally and internationally.

Former VICE APAC CD joins MASH
MASH has appointed former VICE Asia Pacific creative director Royce Akers as its first operating partner as the business scales up to manage rapid global growth while ensuring continued creative excellence. Akers will provide creative oversight and advice to the team of MASHers, as well as inputting into the MASH brand. For more than 11 years Akers was at VICE delivering attention grabbing content, activations and events for brands across APAC including Samsung, Google, BMW, CUB, Pernod Ricard, AHM, NAB and others. He has also recently been appointed consulting creative director for the AFL. Akers is the first APAC partner within a number of specialist operating partners MASH is appointing to complement its pool of referral only creative, digital, strategic and marketing experts.

Cole Lawson bolsters team
Communications and branding agency Cole Lawson has appointed Kyra Washington from Haystac and Kirstin Payne from News Corp to senior leadership positions. Washington, formerly senior account director with Haystac Brisbane, joins as group general manager, responsible for the firm’s operations, client service, account team and new business. Payne, who was most recently deputy chief-of-staff at The Gold Coast Bulletin, joins as head of media, communications and content, heading up a team of staff responsible for earned communications including media relations.

Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au

Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.

Read more about these related brands, agencies and people