Winds of change blow in Welly
After three years as general manager at Saatchi & Saatchi’s Wellington office, Livia Esterhazy has taken over as a managing partner of Assignment Group in Wellington.
And it’s a bit of a switcheroo as Wendy Schrijvers, who has spent the past seven years with Assignment Group, has been appointed as business director for Saatchi & Saatchi.
Schrijvers has worked on brands such as Hyundai, TelstraClear, AMP Life, Meridian Energy, Tourism Industry Association, NZ Lotteries, LTSA/NZ Police Road Safety, NZ Employment Service, Positively Tourism Wellington, Telecom and Elections campaigns.
“She actually spent her first 10 years at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington then had a stint at Clemenger BBDO,” says Saatchi & Saatchi chief executive Nicky Bell.
Mitch Alison has also joined as creative director, moving across from Clemenger BBDO.
Alison is a creative director/writer with global experience, having worked in Africa, Europe, Asia and Australasia. He has been an above-the-line creative director and digital creative group head, so Bell says he’s very comfortable across all mediums.
He has worked on successful integrated campaigns for NZTA, Dulux, Fly Buys and many other pieces of government business including the recent ‘Ghost Chips’ work, and over the years he as been awarded at most major industry award shows, including D&AD, Cannes, One Show Interactive, Caples and FWA.
“We are also in discussions with a potential creative partner for Mitch – more on that soon,” Bell says.
Zoie Bache also joined last month as a senior account director. Over the past eight years, she has been managing OPSM and Toyota out of Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.
“She has recently moved to Wellington and, fortunately for us, decided to stay in the family.”
Hannah Meads and Chris Appelros have also joined the creative department. Appelros is a Wellingtonian and teamed up with Meads at Massey University in Wellington. They have spent the past four months working in the Auckland office on brands such as Telecom, Toyota, NZ Defence Force, FMG and ASB.
Not to be outdone, Clemenger BBDO executive creative director Philip Andrew has announced four new
hires across the creative department.
“It’s been more than six months in the making
but we can now report we have a posse of new blood joining Clemenger. Earlier
in the year we farewelled Jon Pickersgill and Sarah Chernishov to Nitro
Brisbane and last Friday we dispatched South African Mitch Alison to the creative director gig
at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington with a feast of BBQ wild animals. Whilst ex Y&R Wellington art director Tony
Haigh has been working freelance with us for a few months we are thrilled he
has decided to join fulltime. Tony and I had talked a couple of years ago
about joining us so it’s very satisfying to finally have him here.”
New creative team copywriter Barney Ashton
and art director Pablo Arellano join from AMV and DDB London respectively.
Ashton arrived three weeks ago and will be joined by Arellano early next week.
“I
met Barney and Pablo in London and after a few glasses of wine convinced them
to come to Wellington for the sun and surfing. So far so good,” Andrew says.
Multi talented Erik Hay, ex partner at Story
Melbourne, and a man who, judging by his photo, obviously likes llamas, joins Clems in October. He has worked with Saatchi & Saatchi NZ and London.
Key hire
Naked has hired New Zealand born Jono Key as a strategy and communications director for the Auckland office.
Prior to this appointment he has been a member of the Naked Sydney office, working in a senior role with Coca-Cola and Telstra.
As the brains behind the ‘Steal Banksy’ campaign for the Art Series Hotel Group he has had a stellar 2012, winning a Gold Cannes Lion, a Silver Clio and D&AD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w08TVILY2LM
“We’re rapt to have Jono joining us,” says Matt O’Sullivan, managing partner of Naked NZ. “He is exactly the kind of talent we’ve been searching for. He challenges the status quo and delivers truly channel agnostic thinking.”
Guy Cousins, Naked’s other managing partner, says: “Not only is Jono a great guy, he is a top operator that adds a new dimension to our business.”
From banks to booze
HSBC’s replacement comms manager Rachel Broadmore will be starting as the communications manager at DB Breweries from Monday 8 October.
She moved to HSBC on a maternity cover contract for Dee Crooks, who is returning to the role before Christmas.
Rose to the occasion
Speaking of swaps, Ben Rose has swapped bureaucracy for banking and has joined ASB as the head of retail brand experience at ASB. Prior to this he was with ATEED.
Martin of Orange
The Orange Group has announced the appointment of Martin Smith in the new position of general manager for the catering and venues division.
Smith joins Orange with over 14 years of experience in catering, including seven years in London at Party Ingredients, a private catering company as their senior account manager and marketing manager, and more recently as sales manager and head of event catering for one of Auckland’s leading catering companies, Dawsons.
“I’m looking forward to a new challenge with The Orange Group, it is a company that offers many exciting opportunities, along with the development of the catering and venues division,” says Smith.
”This new senior management role was established as a result of the continued development and growth of this integral part of our business. In securing the services of an individual of Martin’s calibre is ideal, and creates the perfect platform to generate further growth,” says Keiran Frost, general manager of The Orange Group.
Some highlights from Smith’s career include organising the catering for the Queen Mother’s 100th Birthday State Luncheon and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee State Banquet. Whilst he was the Senior Account and Marketing Manager at Party Ingredients, a leading private caterer in the UK, he also oversaw catering operations at venues such as St James Palace, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. More recently at Dawsons, he was integral in winning prestigious catering contracts for RWC2011, and became the project manager for Queen’s Wharf RWC2011, responsible for all catering including Taste at The Cloud.
The Orange Group just managed Valerie Adams’ Olympic medal ceremony, which hosted over 2500 guests. And now it’s installing a Winter Wonderland ice skating rink on Queens Wharf in Auckland, which will be open for two weeks to the public to use for free.
General Lee
Samantha Lee has taken over as the new publicity assistant at Random House. She has been with the company for a little over a year as the sales admin assistant. and she replaces Tessa King, who has decided to return to her first love of editorial.
