
Movings/Shakings: 29 November
Job losses and a high-profile departure at APN, Tim Wood heads to Rapp Tribal, Paul Hancox heads to TV, Jordan Dale snaps up bcg2 scholarship and Pead PR bolsters its tech team.
Hear it as it happens. All the latest comings and goings from the local advertising, media and marketing industries.
Job losses and a high-profile departure at APN, Tim Wood heads to Rapp Tribal, Paul Hancox heads to TV, Jordan Dale snaps up bcg2 scholarship and Pead PR bolsters its tech team.
Saatchi & Saatchi snaffles a digi-boffin, a word from our X Factor sponsors, the Media Design School kids are alright, Adshel brings in a chief organiser, DB stalwart steps down, Gopher adds one to the burrow and Murray Lindsay swaps stations.
When David Walden left the relative safety of the multinationals to set up the Auckland office of Whybin\TBWA back in 1997, there were more than a few doubters predicting its swift demise or claiming it would simply be a postbox for the international network. Those doubters were wrong, of course, and the agency has become firmly ensconced in the upper echelons. But he’s not going to be around forever, and Walden, one of the most enigmatic characters in the ad industry, is making preparations to hand over the reins. PLUS: Vincent Heeringa’s NZ Marketing profile republished.
Westpac’s Martine Jager heads back to Oz, Colenso shares the account management love, CAANZ announces four new board members, indies band together to create new agency forum, Orangebox makes a big Wellington hire, Fairfax goes Peat mining and Alexander Communications goes global.
Rob Banks heads to New York, Naked appoints a head of Australasian ideas and viral fun glutton Rob Whitey McConnaughy joins the Sweet Shop.
Kim Hill gets a big international plaudit, Colenso gets greedy, Geoff Devereux goes indie, New Zealand Blood goes digital with Young & Shand, MediaWorks swipes another TVNZer, TVNZ’s new 7pm show gets going, Hayley Holt heads to More FM and Jason Willis lights his Fuse.
Cameron Slater takes on The Truth, OMDepartures and arrivals, digital developments at Colenso, McComms, Orange Group’s mission gets underway, a good Choice, Komli buzzes out, and another Bright Spark.
Wendy Rayner’s new reign, Michael Laws drops the mic, DDB makes a deposit, changes at Woman’s Weekly, no comment from Fairfax, Top Gear New Zealand heads across the ditch, Charlie’s finds a new chief, Ideas Shop adds a new general manager, Alt Group pleases ze Germans, Mi9 moves them up the chain, Simon Barnett heads back to TV, Dominic Bowden takes on X Factor, Datamine adds an ‘Owl’ and Bright Sparks beefs up in the south.
After three years at Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, Mark Cochrane has accepted an intercompany transfer and promotion to become the chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi Thailand, with Colenso BBDO’s Marcelle Baker brought on board to take over as group account director on Toyota and DB Breweries.
IABNZ chooses its new executive weapons, Flying Fish signs up the ‘young Lee Tamahori,’ Eye adds to its Kiwi arsenal, Waitemata Films adds another directorial string to its bow, Telecom’s Chris Quin joins the Icehouse and Waikato-based HMC expands.
King takes a break, Connan James sharpens his lance, Clemas returns for another stint in OMANZ chair, Film Construction signs two up-and-coming Kiwi directors and Derek Handley snuggles up with Richard Branson.
After heading south to take up the role of general manager at Ogilvy Wellington a couple of years ago following the closure of Saatchi & Saatchi’s digital arm DGS, Tony Gardner will be heading north again to take on the role of chief executive of events specialists The Orange Group in Auckland. And his replacement has been named, with current general manager of M&C Saatchi Wellington Aaron White set to man Ogilvy’s fort.
MediaWorks TV said goodbye to its director of sales Linda Farrelly earlier this year. And it’s found an able replacement in the form of Liz Fraser, up until recently the general manager of MSN NZ and chair of IAB NZ, who will take on the newly created role of director of sales and marketing.
A few big switcheroos in Wellington, with Assignment Group, Saatchi & Saatchi and Clemenger BBDO ringing the changes, Naked lures one of its own back home, Rachel Broadmore swaps banks for booze, Ben Rose swaps bureaucracy for banks, the Orange Group ups its events arsenal, and Random House announces a new publicist.
Jon Ramage moves into PR, DDB feels like four, Nicky Bell joins the new Kea board, Paul Kenny launches a new media company, and PriceMe wins a big Asia Pacific accolade.
He’s helped DraftFCB New Zealand go from middle of the road to top of the pops in pretty quick time. And now, after being promoted to the role of group executive creative director for Australia and New Zealand last year, James Mok has been given a chance to dabble in the Asia Pacific with a new regional role.
Changes afoot for ZenithOptimedia, Vivaki takes flight, local McDonald’s man receives top burger honour, Firebrand skims The Pond, The Press announces its new editor, George Mackenzie gets an international call-up, Waitemata smells the roses, the downlowconcept gets it Phil, The Sweet Shop nabs a New Yorker, Spikes Asia entries on the upward trajectory, We Can Create announces its line-up, and the end of an era for TVNZ.
The news that Andrew Stone had departed his post at Droga5 came a few weeks back, with consultancy, fishing and family time taking precedence over his position with agency he helped set up with Mike O’Sullivan and Jose Alomajan in 2010. And his consultancy work has taken him back to a client he knows very well from his time as chief executive at Saatchi & Saatchi: Telecom.
The newly renamed and rebranded Sugar & Partners has added to its haul of Ogilvy employees, enlisting creative director Dave Nash as its new creative partner, where he will partner with recently appointed creative partner Damon O’Leary.
Alana Schultheis joins The Pond, Michael Cornwell takes Samsung NZ’s top marketing gig, Mango nabs a triple, Luke Shanahan goes global with Robber’s Dog, and VeNA looks on the Bright side.
When we sat down for a chat with DDB’s new executive creative director Andy Fackrell a few months back (see full interview below) he said he was enjoying being back in the Kiwi countryside and was pretty keen to stick around if he was enjoying himself. And that’s exactly what’s happened, because he has signed on to become the permanent ECD eight months into his 12 month contract.
Shine’s Julian Andrews goes free range, APN announces its new Herald line-up, DDB welcomes back a prodigal duo, Admission admits many, TradeMe seeks out Vivaki, DraftFCB activates a rising star, Komli launches its mobile ad network, Ngage gets its FIX and Steve Price spruiks Panasonic’s smart TVs.
Spark PHD welcomes back an old friend, CAANZ announces its international Effie judge, Healthy Life Media’s allergic reaction, Adshool students have something to crow about, The PR Shop goes corporate, TEDx announces its speaker line-up and Adobe appoints a new communicator.
Whatever the creatives—and creative agencies—can do, so can the clients, because it seems Westpac’s head of marketing Ian Moody has swapped red for blue and joined BNZ.
Word-of-mouth agency Soup launches in New Zealand (and, appropriately enough, starts with a campaign for cat broth), Steve Tindall sleeps with the enemy, two for Tangible as Primary shacks up with PGG Wrightson, Clemenger Group opens up the Young Talent Programme for 2013, greener pastures for Fenella Humphreys, Jessica Mathias joins Pead and Hayden Hare joins Flava.
M&C Saatchi’s chief executive Darryn Melrose has resigned from the agency to pursue opportunities outside of the advertising industry and he will be replaced by his old AIM Proximity buddies Tony Burt and Dave King, who will be joint chief executive officers.
NZ Lotteries is in the money, Metro announces a new art director and Mi9 names one of its own as sales manager for its new ad network.
TVNZ’s Eric Kearley joins Rick Ellis at Telstra, Air New Zealand shifts some troops, Copper prepares for growth with a double, Rory Carter opens the doors of Red Dennis, Getty bolsters its APAC marketing team, CAANZ welcomes a new recruit, Kip Brook heads into academia, and James Mok and Kelly Bennett get the call up for Spikes Asia.
When Colenso BBDO’s head of planning James Hurman decided to expand his horizons and take a role as planning partner at Ogilvy Shangahi, he said he’d probably be back in the homeland eventually. But he’s returned much sooner than expected, with the bearded one cutting short his OE to take up the role of managing director at Y&R, where he will be working alongside one of his old cohorts Josh Moore.
After a bit of a rough patch, the newly rebranded ‘global boutique’ Y&R NZ has been slowly getting back on the good foot, with some nice work for the likes of HRV, Shapes Roadies and ACC, and some big names being added to the staff roster, among them Josh Moore as executive creative director, Ross Goldsack returning as non-executive director and Scott Henderson manning the fort in Wellington. And now there’s another big change to announce, with the chief executive of seven years Jon Ramage stepping down and being replaced by Moore.
MediaWorks adds some more integration, Gordon Jon Thompson takes a gamble on Sky City, APN names Peter Hunt as its director and chairman of the board, and DB opens up its newly-renovated Monteith’s Brewery in Greymouth.
After leaving Saatchi & Saatchi to set up the local outpost of Droga5 in April 2010, it’s believed business partner Andrew Stone has left the building after a few eventful years at the helm.
APN shuffles staff into senior appointments thanks to sales restructuring, M&C Saatchi’s hire at first sight, Wright Communications acquires a new trio, The Research Agency expands by two, Fairfax feels Droga5’s creative spirit and Dentsu eyes up Aegis.
As is often the case in the advertising biz, losing big clients usually means losing staff. And after Sugar decided not to go back for a BNZ booty call, managing director Jeremy Johnston says it has said goodbye to approximately four full-time equivalents over the past few months. But now that the “recalibration” is complete, he says the newly restructured business is on the upward trajectory, as evidenced by the arrival of ex-Ogilvy executive creative director Damon O’Leary, who has joined as creative partner.
Sentia Media welcomes a new general manager, Cooper Street Media aims for the Sky, AD2ONE adds one, Insight goes global and JWT gets a move on.
He was up on stage a few months back collecting a trophy for best production company at the AXIS awards. But George Mackenzie, who spent three years with The Sweet Shop, most recently as managing director for NZ/Asia/MENA, has decided to try his hand elsewhere and will join Robber’s Dog as managing director.