Movers & Shakers: Starcom, ARN, Special Group

27 November 2020

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.

Starcom restructures
Starcom Australia has made a series of staff appointments as part of a wider repositioning for the media agency. Under the new leadership of CEO Nick Keenan, the agency has unveiled its People Powered Growth positioning. This includes the promotion of Mark Duffy to the new role of national head of investment and digital. Louise Romeo has been appointed chief client officer and Sally Christian, Starcom’s national head of strategy, will now add experience design and data science to her remit. Additionally, Roger Lintzeris joins in the new role of head of strategy in Melbourne.

Foxcatcher hires Dentsu talent
Marketing data and technology specialist Foxcatcher has named Andrew Molan as its first head of product and solutions. The new hire, which marks the first senior appointment by managing director David Gaskill, will focus on developing technical solutions for addressable media, CRM, and performance media to lead the product and solutions function of Foxcatcher. Foxcatcher was launched to the market in October this year by RyanCap.

Special Group’s first Melbourne creatives
Independent creative agency Special Group Australia has added Toby Moore and Luke Thompson as creative directors for its newly-launched Melbourne office. The duo are the first creative appoints for the agency’s new office. Moore has worked at agencies including Publicis Mojo, Fallon London, Wieden+Kennedy London and most recently Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. Thompson has held positions at Taxi and Cliff Freeman and Partners in New York and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne.

ARN trade marketer departs
ARN’s head of trade marketing Gabrielle Cook is leaving ARN after 11 years. Cook, who has more than 20 years’ experience in media across the UK and Australia, first joined the radio network in 2009. She finishes her last day this week.

Innocean Australia expands by eight
Innocean Australia has bolstered its team with eight new hires.V. Wassim Kanaan, who has previously worked at The Monkeys and Saatchi & Saatchi, joins as senior art director, while Damon Porter, who has worked at Host/Havas and VMLY&R, joins as senior copywriter. Other appointments include Romy Briers as CX director, a newly-created role that will focus on managing and growing partner relationships to help drive digital innovation and deliver effective creative solutions. Meanwhile, Adrian James joins as CX insights director and Taylah Nilsson as social media manager.

ARN welcomes back Kate Langbroek
Kate Langbroek is returning to ARN’s KIIS Network as the co-host of 3PM Pick Up. Langbroek joins Monty Dimond and Yumi Stynes as part of the line-up from January 2021, marking a return for her to ARN where she previously hosted the Drive Show with Dave Hughes from 2015 to 2017.

Jack Nimble appoints social lead
Social studio Jack Nimble has appointed James McInnes to the newly created role of head of social. McInnes joins Jack Nimble on his return from Los Angeles, where he was general manager at social agency Benchmob with clients such as AriZona Iced Tea, Diplo, Major Lazer and Flume.

Drive grows content team ahead of relaunch
CarAdvice/Drive has appointed motor sport presenter and journalist Charlie Bullis to its editorial team. Bullis, who joins from the UK, has previously contributed to SpeedCafé, MotorSportM8 and the TA2 Muscle Car Series. “We pride ourselves on offering our readers the most diverse range of automotive content and opinion, whatever their motoring niche. I’m confident our valued CarAdvice community will embrace her [Charlie’s] infectious personality and understanding of performance-inspired content,” says CarAdvice managing editor Trent Nikolic. The appointment comes ahead of Drive’s brand relaunch, which will see it absorb CarAdvice.

Sydney WorldPride makes key appointment
Sydney WorldPride has appointed Adam Zammit to the newly created role of partnerships and revenue director. Zammit joins Sydney WorldPride ahead of the festival’s launch in the Southern Hemisphere in 2023. Zammit's key responsibilities include to identify and grow commercial partnerships with some of the most progressive and forward-looking companies and brands from across the globe.

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