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They like to move it move it…

…as Aegis opens a new activation division and Apollo Marketing’s Will Riley gets the plum posting; Graeme Underwood moves across the hall and Rachel Lorimer takes over publicity duties at MediaWorks; Simon Kozak is appointed high priest of The Church; Greg Shand sells his share of Baldwin Boyle Group after 25 years with the company; Datamine finds a managing director in its existing ranks; and Ian Hughes announces some changes at Bigmouth voice agency. 

Life of Riley

Aegis Media has announced the launch of a new activations division within Australia and New Zealand, comprising the previously existing but separately managed business units Apollo Marketing, Synergy and Impact.

Will Riley, who founded Apollo Marketing in New Zealand in 1997 and expanded the business to Australia in 1999, will be managing director of the new division.

Apollo is Australasia’s most awarded promotional agency and works with key clients including Foster’s, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Kellogg’s in Australia and DB Breweries, Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Panasonic in New Zealand. It was acquired by Aegis Media in 2007.

New Zealand agency Synergy specialises in brand experience, sampling and merchandising and Impact is an specialist experiential and brand activation agency that launched in Australia in 2000.

“Apollo, Synergy and Impact are extremely complimentary businesses and it makes sense to house them within one division dedicated to helping our clients reach their consumers through engaging experiences that drive a deeper brand connection, especially at the point of purchase,” says Riley. “As part of the largest communications group in the region, we are uniquely placed to leverage the trend towards results-based consumer and shopper engagement that drives awareness and converts interest into measurable business results.”

Several staff promotions have also been announced within Apollo. Ruth Money has been appointed managing director for both Australia and New Zealand, Richard Woods to general manager Australia and Lizzie Pobiega to senior group account director.

Cate Darcy has been appointed general manager of Impact and Richard Chapman, formerly managing director, has moved into the newly created role of Aegis Media Group business development director in Melbourne.

Woody for the trees

Graeme Underwood has moved across the hall to take up the role of Interactive sales manager, replacing outgoing Sales Manager, Jay Best.

Underwood has worked in sales management roles with RadioWorks, TRB, SKY TV, TV3 and FOUR and was appointed as general manager, national sales, in November last year.

“Online and mobile are now such an integral part of MediaWorks offering that I feel proud to be leading the charge on taking these products to market,” he says.

“I’m pleased the skills he has developed over his time in the company and industry are being harnessed into now taking the Interactive business to a new level,” says director of TV sales, Linda Farrelly. “Woody has worked on big projects such as the Rugby World Cup this year and market feedback is that our customised product is excellent. I’d like to thank him for all his hard work.”

Interactive is now hiring both agency and direct account managers. Contact Siobhan McKenna on: 021 72 90 90 with any enquiries.

Return of the Lorimer

In other MediaWorks staffing news, Rachel Lorimer has come back to the mothership as publicity manager, replacing Nicole Wood, who’s “off to seek fame and fortune in the world of contract and project work” after four years in the role.

Lorimer has worked for MediaWorks, TVNZ (with Paris) and South Pacific Pictures in the past and has been working as an independent contractor (and producer with Passenger Films) for the past six years, most recently with the Auckland Arts Festival.

Church and state

Simon Kozak has been appointed as chief executive of The Church, after being upgraded from the general manager role he was given in October 2010. Prior to this, he was general manager of G2 Melbourne, a role he held briefly following on from being planning director of G2 Auckland.

Kozak arrived in New Zealand from the UK seven years ago and has over 25 years experience in advertising, with many of them spent at board level for the likes of Abbott Mead Vickars BBDO and Carlson.

A strategist by trade Kozak has a number of RSVP acknowledgments for his planning and is a recognised practitioner in the field of internal communication.

Tom Baloghy has also joined as account director and Kate Swift has joined as account executive, and both of them bring more digital and mobile experience to the team.

Shand off

Baldwin Boyle Group’s long-serving managing director Greg Shand has chucked in the towel after 25 years with the firm and sold up his quarter shareholding in the company.

Baldwin Boyle handled Fonterra’s PR account, so with the masses starting to get a bit feisty about the price of milk, it could be a good time to leave.

Parsons mined

 

Mike Parsons, who joined Datamine as a ‘Templar’ (or more conventionally, a senior business consultant) last year, has been promoted to the new role of managing director. Previously, he worked on Wall St and won chess tournaments. He’s also the director of New Zealand’s ice hockey federation.

Big Mouth

Ian Hughes is selling his voice agency Bigmouth to “good friend and fellow Bigmouth agent Sarah McLeod”.

Most of you will know her. She has actually been part of the the Bigmouth team for years – firstly as a voice on the books and in the last year as our incredibly hard working and diligent other booking agent.

Firstly I want to say how excited I am for Sarah and Bigmouth. She has great drive and brilliant ideas about moving things along and up and it will be great for talent and clients alike. Being a fellow performer she really understands the industry inside out and can offer a unique perspective. She, like me, loves getting work for talented people and loves matching talent to ideas. She understands and knows the talents of our talent. I feel as a performer she can really help clients get the best from their scripts.

It has been a difficult decision as I have really loved nuturing and growing the business since I took the reins for Yevonne Dudman nearly ten years ago. I have learnt tons about the business, business and also the business of myself and it has been gratifying to see the agency grow from 30 voices when I started to over 100 now. I have made some good friends and watched the industry change and bend. When I started the internet was some new fangled beast that downloaded at none kilobits a second. Now MP3s and emails fly around the place all of the time and we have clients phoning and Skyping us from as far away as Germany wanting to use our talent – that’s pretty cool eh?

We have all seen various ups and downs and reshuffles and slumps – not least the last year and a half – but Bigmouth has emerged stronger than ever which is such a fantastic place to hand it on from. I will continue to be a voice on the books and may drop in from time to time as a guest agent but I have decided that I need to go and pursue some of my other creative ideas.

So –  thank you so much – advertising can be a bit crazy sometimes but it is also a fun and exciting place to work and there is always a new challenge to be met. As I say I will be hanging around doing voice work and I will also be helping Sarah with the transition. So it really it’s a step sideways and a change of hat.

Basically keep calling Sarah on her cell phone 021 441 028 and call her on this land line 09 817 2950
emails the same [email protected]

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