Movers & Shakers: ViacomCBS, Nine, Special Group

6 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.

 

ViacomCBS AUNZ names co-lead
Jarrod Villani has been named as co-lead for ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand. Villani, who previously worked at investment firm KordaMentha as head of restructuring in Queensland and head of office in Brisbane, joins Beverley McGarvey, chief content officer and executive vice president, to oversee the business. He will be chief operating and commercial officer responsible for all the combined company’s commercial activities and operations in both markets.

Nine names new Melbourne boss
Nine has named media agency executive Matt James as its managing director for Melbourne. James recently returned from London where he was global CEO of agency network Zenith Media. Before that he held senior media roles as Australian CEO of Publicis Media and CEO of Zenith Australia. The Melbourne appointment is a return to Nine for James, who left in 2015 to move to Publicis after holding senior roles including group director of Nine’s client solutions division, Powered, and managing director of its Digital Media division.

Special Group Australia expands
Independent creative agency Special Group Australia has bolstered its creative team with the hire of Lea Egan and Sian Binder. Egan has created work for brands Netflix, Converse, Cadbury, and UNICEF at agencies including Anomaly New York, Droga5, Publicis Mojo and DDB. Most recently she was a creative director at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. Binder has led creative projects for Cadbury, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Toyota and Aldi at advertising agencies such as Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, BMF, Droga5, Wunderman, and M&C Saatchi.

Innocean Australia grows team
Innocean Australia has appointed Ian Hartley and Carolyn Cho senior client partners. The executives will lead Innocean’s Hyundai and Kia accounts and will also have expanded remits as client partners. Hartley joins as client partner on Hyundai and was previously with The Royals Sydney where he led the MyState Bank, Spotify and SnackBrands businesses. With 18 years’ experience in the industry, Hartley has also worked at VMLY&R, Saatchi & Saatchi and Arnold Furnace. Cho joins Innocean as client partner on Kia and was previously with Fallon in London where she led the ŠKODA account and launched a new brand platform and drove integration and digital and content creation. Cho has more than 15 years’ experience in advertising and marketing including working with Saatchi & Saatchi New York, Leo Burnett London, Fallon London, Ogilvy Sydney and Y&R.

Paykel appoints managing director
Independent media agency Paykel Media has appointed Sarah Keith as managing director. She replaces Tony Paykel who stepped down as managing director to head the agency’s partnerships earlier in the year. Keith will be responsible for Paykel Media’s operations in Sydney and Melbourne, including Paykel Plus and Paykel Transact. She was previously managing director of Publicis Media Exchange. Her 25-year career in media and marketing includes senior roles at Network 10, Fairfax Media, Fox Sports, SBS, and UK’s Channel 4.

Gumtree appoints native and data advertising lead
Gumtree appoints Tim Lloyd senior manager, AdTech & Data. He come from five years at Domain where he oversaw commercial AdTech & AdOperations; the development of its performance advertising offering and its transition to a programmatic-first sales model. He says: “I’m proud to join Gumtree’s innovative team and to take its advertising offering to new heights."

New audio director at SBS
SBS has appointed David Hua as director of audio and language content. Hua joins SBS with more than 20 years’ experience in the media industry, with senior executive roles at the ABC where he most recently led its international services including ABC Radio Australia, ABC Australia (TV), and digital services that connect audiences around the world with Australian stories.

Splendid enters UK market
B2B technology marketing consultancy Splendid Suggestions is expanding into the UK market with the appointment of London-based Jess Littlewood as senior strategist to lead its UK office. Littlewood brings over 20 years’ experience as a senior marketer working in both Australia and the UK at agencies such as MercerBell and TMW. Additionally, Mel Johnstone has been promoted to partner at the business. Johnstone has been with Splendid since 2015, most recently as strategy director.

Contentsquare builds regional team
Experience analytics firm Contentsquare has revealed its plans to accelerate growth in the APAC region with the launch of four offices across Tokyo, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney. The agency, which uses anonymous web, mobile and app interactions to improve digital experiences, has already worked with brands such as Telstra. The APAC team has recently hired two key executives, David Bochsler, formerly of Microsoft, as the regional managing director to lead the APAC operations and Frazer Adnam, formerly of Deliveroo and most recently Afterpay, joining as AUNZ country manager.

 

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