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.
Ant White goes from Howatson + White
Ant White is leaving Howatson + White, eight months after co-founding the agency. He and Chris Howatson left CHE Proximity to strike out on their own. But there's so far been no official statement on why he left or what reason is behind the move.
Initiative assembles The Avengers media strategy team
Initiative is strengthening its national media strategy team, adding two senior executives. Rebecca Drummond joins as Initiative Sydney’s first Group Strategy Director and Toby Maclachlan is strategy director at Initiative Melbourne.
MediaCom names chief strategy officer and a new MD
MediaCom announced the appointment of Sophie Price as Chief Strategy Officer and Prajat Khare Managing Director Data Led Planning & Systems Intelligence. Price spent four years at M&C Saatchi and Bohemia as head of integrated strategy. She is the only individual in Australia to have led strategy in both a creative agency and media agency, including UM Australia. Prajat Khare joins MediaCom as its first Managing Director, Data Led Planning & Systems Intelligence.
Adman Matt Houltham CMO role at Glow
Matt Houltham, former CEO of Havas Media AUNZ, has resurfaced as the first CMO of growing research technology platform Glow. Houltham has been an advisory board member of Glow for the past two years and has now taken on the newly created role of global CMO.
News Corp strengthens digital strategy
News Corp Australia has appointed Louise Cooper to the new role of director of data strategy & management to lead the company’s enterprise-wide data strategy. Cooper has previously worked at Qantas where she was head of data analytics, insights and AI and has more than 15-years’ data experience across various industries. She will take responsibility for the entire company’s data needs, playing a key role in accelerating plans to develop its data strategy.
inc. Digital Media promotions
Independent media agency, inc. Digital Media announced the promotion of Craig Sue to Commercial Director and Stephanie Hasouros to Ad Operations Manager. Craig joined at the end of 2018 as the agency’s Ad Operations Manager. Stephanie started at the start of 2019 in the role of Ad Operations team leader.
VMLY&R Commerce CEO Sean Taylor steps down
VMLY&R has announced that its Commerce unit CEO Sean Taylor is stepping down to focus on his other business interests, after a two-year succession planning process. General Managers Ben Walker and Kate Warren-Smith have taken the helm.
UnLtd's new WA general manager
Social purpose organisation UnLtd has appointed Tia Brazier as the new General Manager for Western Australia. The current GM Kristy Mansfield is moving into a board role.
SCA's Sydney TV sales team
SCA appointed two Group Sales Managers in the Sydney TV team, reporting to the recently appointed Head of TV Sales Sydney, Holly Bradley. Tammy Dobrow has been promoted from Account Manage. Michelle Felettigh has been promoted from Senior Account Manager.
Clemenger BBDO Sydney's new head of social
Lewis Steele has joined Clemenger BBDO as Head of Social and will be running the agency’s social and content offering, Flare Sydney. He joins from Connecting Plots where he was Head of Social & Content, working on clients including Menulog, Nestlé and Subaru.
Publicis Sapient’s new MD
Publicis Sapient has named Claire Rawlins as country managing director for Australia. Rawlins will lead the Industry, Capability and Corporate teams in Australia and work with the company’s international leaders to deliver outcomes to local clients. She has previously led teams across multiple industries for companies such as Salesforce, IAG, and BNP Paribas. She was most recently founder and CEO of Digital Natives Advisory and strategy advisor to the president of Adobe APAC.
AJF adds Jill Cumms to leadership team
AJF has expanded its leadership team to include Jill Cummins as strategy director. In the newly created role, Cummins will lead the repositioning of the agency as well as a continued focus on effectiveness and growing the agency’s strategy offering.
Flight Centre names top marketer
Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) has appointed Darren Wright as global chief marketing officer for its leisure division, including the global Flight Centre brand and Travel Associates. Wright is responsible for overall brand strategy, customer insights and engagement, marketing operations and technology, and worldwide retail. Wright first joined Flight Centre in 1996 as marketing leader for the Australian Flight Centre and Great Holiday Escape retail brands. After leaving the company in 2001, he held various senior marketing and commercial roles with Virgin Blue, AirAsia and Scoot airlines.
Vamp appoints new CEO
Influencer and content platform Vamp has appointed Gabriele Famous as CEO. Famous has previously worked at technology companies such as Salesforce and Zendesk, and most recently worked at Trustpilot as chief marketing officer. Her appointment comes as the platform enters its “next phase” of growth. Former Vamp CEO Gill Findlay joins Brendon Cook, Jeff Law, and cofounders Ben McGrath and Aaron Brooks on the company’s board.
Property disruptor nabs ex-Canon marketer
Property industry disruptor PT Blink has appointed Andrew Giles to the role of marketing and communications director in preparation for the next phase of expansion. Giles will lead all elements of brand, marketing and communications including public affairs. Prior to joining PT Blink, Giles was a brand and communications consultant, most recently as a senior corporate counsel at Edelman Australia spanning the resources, technology, automotive and government sectors. He has also worked at Canon in Japan and Australia where he held various marketing, PR and communications leadership roles across the business.
Xaxis’ Trent Durfee joins Amplified Intelligence
Measurement platform Amplified Intelligence has named Xaxis’ Trent Durfee as its new head of product. Durfee brings more than 13 years of experience in digital advertising, working in senior roles at various companies, including Yahoo!, Nine Digital, Sizmek by Amazon and, most recently, Xaxis as part of GroupM's programmatic arm, as their head of product & platforms.
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