Jed Hallam has been appointed UK head of IPG Mediabrands' new creative practice, Mediabrands Content Studio. Launched in November 2020, the studio formalises the content offering across Mediabrands' agencies: UM, Initiative, Reprise, Rapport, Magna and Orion. Hallam joined Mediabrands in 2017 as the chief strategy officer of Initiative UK. Prior to this, he was head of strategy and managing partner at WPP's Mindshare, having joined the agency in 2013.
Initiative UK has promoted Will Parrish to replace Hallam as CSO. Parrish, who has worked at the agency since 2011, was previously strategic lead for Initiative’s global hub team in London.
Spotify has promoted Rak Patel to lead the music and podcast streaming giant's sales teams across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Patel's promotion to head of enterprise sales EMEA comes within weeks of Marco Bertozzi's departure. Bertozzi was vice-president, EMEA sales and multi-market global sales. Patel was previously head of sales for UK and pan-EMEA.
Annie Gallimore, managing director of Engine, is stepping away from the agency to join Deloitte Digital’s creative consultancy, Acne London, in the same role. Gallimore – who has more than 20 years' experience in the business – joins Deloitte Digital in the wake of the creative consultancy’s expansion across Europe, which was announced in September.
Omar Gurnah has left his role as head of marketing at Uber UK and Ireland to join Amazon. The move, which happened last month, came just before Gurnah’s two-year anniversary at Uber, where he also worked on the Uber Eats business. Amazon confirmed that it has hired him in the role of senior manager, marketing, and that he handles a range of projects.
Fiona Johnston, chief executive of Interpublic media agency UM Australia, has been promoted to chief growth officer of Mediabrands Global/EMEA and will relocate to the UK to take up the new position. Based in London, Johnston’s international role will include delivering market advantage to existing and potential clients. She has been CEO of UM Australia since October 2017.
Sonic branding agency DLMDD has appointed Anil Sebastian – a prolific musician, creative and co-founder of London Contemporary Voices – as its first creative director. Sebastian has performed and collaborated with artists including U2, Alt-J, Sam Smith, Joss Stone, Nitin Sawhney, Laura Mvula, Lewis Capaldi and Imogen Heap, and has worked on runway shows with fashion brands including Burberry and Tommy Hilfiger. They will be responsible for developing DLMDD’s creative philosophy and product across all aspects of the business.
AAR has hired George Porteous as chief strategy officer to accelerate the growth of its consultancy offering, which aims to help brands design and accelerate the performance of their marketing ecosystems. A freelance consultant for the past year, Porteous’ previous roles include managing director, EMEA, marketing services at Tag, and head of UKI at Cognizant Digital Business.
Purpose-focused agency Given has appointed Nicolas Roope, co-founder of Poke, to its board as an advisor and non-exec creative leader. Roope, who left Poke in 2019 following its merger with Publicis London, is also co-founder of energy-saving lightbulb brand Plumen.
Motorway, an online marketplace for used cars, has appointed Lloyd Page as its first chief marketing officer. Page was previously marketing director at Moneysupermarket, having joined the price comparison site as a consultant in 2018.
South African agency Clockwork has launched its first international expansion in the UK. The new office is designed to meet the needs of clients including RB and Xbox. It will be led by Richard Dutton, former chief marketing officer at Engine and head of brand experience at Leo Burnett, and Marcus Reynolds, former joint head of strategy and planning at Wunderman Thompson.
Zenith has promoted group strategy director Richard Clay to head of specialist capabilites. He will report to CSO Richard Kirk and oversee a team of six specialist directors, who provide expertise on subjects including effectiveness, data-driven marketing, direct response, performance solutions, ecommerce and media innovation. Clay joined the agency in 2010 as a graduate planner.
Hearts & Science has appointed Louis Wedgbury as head of digital. He joins from ForwardPMX, where he has been head of strategy for the past two years.
Brand experience agency Avantgarde London has hired Victoria Larder as client services director. She joins after a stint as consultant with start-up TheUp.co, and was previously managing director at Pave London, which she founded in 2014.
Bauer Media Advertising has appointed Claire Foster as commercial chief operating officer. Foster joined Bauer from Reach in 2019 to lead its strategic delivery team. Bauer has also promoted Martin Ball to commercial managing director, Hits Radio network, from his previous role of regional commercial director.
Manchester-based digital product studio Code Computerlove has promoted client services director Rob Jones to joint managing director, with fellow MD Louis Georgiou taking on a more active role at parent company MediaCom North. Jones has worked at the agency for 13 years.
Kantar has appointed Jeremy Schwartz, former CEO of The Body Shop and Pandora, to the leadership team of its Sustainable Transformation Practice as practice chairman.
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