Iris ramps up planning department

By Sara Kimberley, campaignlive.co.uk, Thursday, 26 January 2012 03:41PM

Iris has ramped up its planning department with two new senior hires.

Bob Udale: joins Iris

The agency has hired Bob Udale as global planning director, working alongside Iris's European planning director, John Frood.

Udale joins from Start Judge Gill where he was head of planning. Prior to that, he was planning director and board member at AIS, where he was strategic lead on O2.

In addition, iris has appointed Lindsay Landy as senior strategist from Philips Consumer Lifestyle division, where she was global digital marketing manager.

Both Udale and Landy will report to iris global executive planning director, Sam Noble. The pair will focus solely on areas of digital strategy such as content, technology, mobile, data and CRM in line with Iris' increased focus on branded content and community creation.

The move is part of Iris's strategic partnership with US media and marketing giant Meredith, which was announced at the end of last year.

Noble, said: "Our clients increasingly need to be behaving like publishers, community facilitators and technology pioneers in order to stay ahead of the competitive pack.

"Both Bob and Lindsay will play a key role in leading the debate around how with our senior global clients."

Iris key UK clients include Orange, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Barclaycard.

Follow Sara Kimberley on Twitter @SaraKimberley

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk