Movers & Shakers: TotallyAwesome, Harris Farm, Nine, JCDecaux

By AdNews | 26 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.

Ikon’s James Sawyer joins TotallyAwesome
Former Ikon boss James Sawyer has been appointed managing director of TotallyAwesome Australia and New Zealand. Sawyer was most recently managing partner of Ikon Sydney and Melbourne and was a member of the agency’s national leadership team. He has also worked at Foxtel as head of media and at Carat. Sawyer will lead the businesses’ media and content team to help clients and media agencies connect with users on the platform.

Julia Zaetta's new gig
Journalist and editor Julia Zaetta is heading up a new magazine for Harris Farm Markets which she says will be a “big love-in” for readers and advertisers alike. Zaetta, who left Bauer Media, now Are Media, amid the pandemic last year, has taken on the role as editor for the bi-monthly magazine called Market. She is the former editor-in-chief of Better Homes and Gardens. The new title, published by Highlife, will be in stores from this week and will feature recipes and advice, as well as profiles on farmers and suppliers, and topics such as sustainability.

 

 

WIN director joins Nine board
Andrew Lancaster, a director of regional television player WIN, is joining the board of Nine Entertainment. He replaces Patrick Allaway, one of three directors who came to Nine with the Fairfax merger. He is the chair of the Bank of Queensland which is buying ME Bank for more than $1.3 billion. Lancaster is CEO of private investment company Birketu Pty Ltd as well as WIN Corporation, Australia’s largest regional broadcaster and soon-to-be Nine affiliate.

JCDecaux's programmatic offering
Outdoor media specialist JCDecaux has unveiled its programmatic offering across 100% of its digital inventory. The business also revealed a restructured team in Australia, with senior appointments, and is actively recruiting for additional roles. Cassandra Cameron has been promoted to the expanded role of executive general manager, revenue strategy and operations. She has a remit over pricing, packaging, campaign operations and multiformat trading, including programmatic. Cameron joined the company’s Australian executive leadership team in 2019.  Brad Palmer is appointed national programmatic director. He has extensive media experience with recent roles as national programmatic manager at both Allure Media and Pedestrian Group. Kasey Climpson joins as programmatic operations manager, and brings an extensive ad operations background from within JCDecaux, previously holding various roles in campaign delivery, including digital verification manager.

 

Former VCCP boss launches consultancy
Marketing veteran Andrew Holt has launched a marketing consultancy, The Whole Picture. For more than two years he led the Australian operation of UK headquartered independent network VCCP and worked at BBDO agencies across Australasia, starting as a business director at Colenso BBDO in Auckland before being promoted to managing director of Clemenger BBDO Wellington. Returning to Australia in 2015 he was appointed MD of Clemenger BBDO Sydney and has also worked at Saatchi & Saatchi, Lowe Hunt and DDB.

CarExpert.com.au appoints Vic & SA sales boss
Publishing platform and automotive media website, CarExpert.com.au has announced the appointment of former Carsales and Big Mobile sales director, Luca D’Alessandro in the new position of sales director, Victoria and South Australia. D’Alessandro will work directly with media agencies and manufacturers in the Victorian and South Australian markets to service its growing client base and continue building the unique CarExpert.com.au brand. His sales experience was honed during his four years at Big Mobile, before he moved to Carsales, where he worked as head of digital sales for close to two years. His work in the media and automotive industries includes ESPN Australia, Disney, The Australian Grand Prix and the Ford Motor Company.  

Online Marketing Gurus makes three new hires
Independent digital marketing agency Online Marketing Gurus (OMG) has made three new senior appointments following rapid client growth and international expansion into the United States and Singapore. The Sydney head office has hired former In Marketing We Trust head of growth Ed Jones as director Of paid media, along with former Ikon Communications head of experience Jules Ward as SEO director and former RMS Tech CTO James Geortsis as chief technology officer.

Ex-News Corp exec to lead GoDaddy
Website building company GoDaddy has appointed Tamara Oppen as its new Australian managing director. Oppen, who will join GoDaddy's international team, is charged with leading the company's Australian operations and growth as it continues to deepen its presence in the region to help small businesses get online and thrive. Prior to joining GoDaddy, Oppen held senior executive roles at News Corp Australia, including general manager of News Local, commercial business transformation lead and strategy and operations director. Oppen was co-founder of Pivot.ly, a digital transformation consultancy helping small businesses and startups fast track their digital footprint. Previously, she was CEO of Mable, one of Australia’s fastest growing health tech start-ups, driving brand reinvention and revenue growth.

SEN appoints NZ content manager
Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) has appointed Jason Pine as its NZ content manager for the soon to launch SENZ 24/7 sports talk radio stations. The former operations manager and sports reader for Newstalk ZB Wellington, Pine had been with TRN/NZME for 28 years. SEN announced its plans to expand into New Zealand last week with the acquisition of 29 TAB NZ AM/FM radio licences and the signing former New Zealand Test captain Brendon McCullum as headline talent.

Freshworks names new CMO
Customer engagement software company Freshworks has announced the appointment of veteran Software as a Service (SaaS) visionary Stacey Epstein as chief marketing officer (CMO). Epstein brings over 25 years of industry experience, fueling startups to high-growth multi-billion dollar companies. Epstein will play a pivotal role in Freshworks’ next phase of growth, leading global marketing strategy for the company.

Interns land roles at Bastion Collective
Interns Isobel Kelly and Rhett White have won positions at Bastion Collective after undertaking the Bridge program and navigating the job arena in a COVID environment.  Last year Kelly was in her final year of a double degree, Bachelor of Arts (psychology) and Bachelor of Business (marketing) at Monash University when she applied for the intern program through the recruitment portal on the Bastion website. She finished her studies in November 2020 and was then offered a full-time position with sponsorship and experiential agency Bastion EBA. White, currently studying a Bachelor of Business majoring in marketing at RMIT University is another recruit who participated in Bastion’s Bridge program remotely in July last year. He now works as a junior creative strategist, part-time at Bastion EBA, whilst he completes his final year of his degree.

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