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Movings/Shakings: 9 April

Stuff bolsters sales team


L-R: John Farrell, Laurissa Hollis, Matt Kum, Angela, Anthony Rice and Ellen Yan

Stuff has appointed two directors to its agency sales team, as well as four national business directors in specialist categories across retail, travel, automotive and finance.

Appointed in December last year, Matt Kum is the media sales director (MSD) that heads up Stuff’s Agency Sales Team. The newly created position aligns with regional MSD roles for Stuff’s direct sales side of the business, but is centred around finding new ways to deliver more value to agencies and their clients. Kum has been with Stuff for the past four years in various senior sales roles, following 10 years’ agency experience.

Reporting to Kum, Laurissa Hollis joins as group susiness director to lead two Agency Sales Teams, which are currently servicing major agency portfolios such as OMG, DAN, and Group M. After almost 15 years in media, Hollis’ most recent role was as ad sales Mmanager for Bravo New Zealand.

“Laurissa is a great addition to the team – her background with both MediaWorks and Bravo brings vast experience in multimedia planning and she is well-credited in the industry. She will add immense value to Stuff and I know she’ll absolutely nail it.” says Kum.

Ellen Yan and John Farrell step up from other roles at Stuff to be the national business directors managing the retail category.

Combined, the two have more than 25 years-experience with local and multinational retail brands, and will be responsible for the growth, strategic insight and product development for all retail advertising customers nationwide utilising all of Stuff’s digital and print assets.  

“We’re really looking forward to engaging in more focussed retail conversations with agencies and clients and delivering effective integrated solutions. The retail category is massive, representing 35 to 40 per cent of Stuff’s revenue, so having myself and John on board will enable us to maximise opportunities in the retail vertical,” says Yan.

“There is huge potential for growth, especially with some fresh thinking and exciting new digital products being rolled out,” adds Farrell.

Leading the travel category, Angela Earl-Donoghue is another internal appointment. With extensive experience, both in the direct and agency space, Earl-Donoghue has worked with a large number of travel-related brands over the years and is excited to take the category to new heights.

“Continuing to evolve in the digital space for our travel advertisers is key and, with 2.6 million print readers and a dedicated travel vertical, the world’s our oyster,” Earl-Donoghue says.

Anthony Rice takes over the finance category and continues as national business director for the automotive category.

“Stuff’s quality content offering and enormous reach right across the country enables banks and other financial institutions to connect with households and business decision-makers at mass scale and on highly-respected platforms,” Rice says.

Taking the lead

GroupM, WPP’s Media Investment arm, has appointed David Fish as chief client and business partner, a newly created role dedicated to delivering enhanced, strategic client consultation and services.

Reporting to GroupM Australia and New Zealand CEO Mark Lollback, Fish will work with the leadership and teams at GroupM agencies including MediaCom, Mindshare, Wavemaker and Essence. He’ll also work with clients and their established teams to ensure seamless integration and onboarding for new clients.

Fish is currently managing director of Media Lab, GroupM’s bespoke agency serving Westpac.

GroupM is undertaking a search for a general manager for Media Lab, and Fish will continue to oversee the business working closely with the senior leadership team.

Lollback says Fish was instrumental in setting up  Media Lab for Westpac.

“We’re proud of the work he’s done there to inspire excellence in client leadership. David’s background is in running agencies, building teams and reshaping agency relationships. We’re lucky to welcome him into a group role where his experience and expertise will help supercharge outcomes across our agencies and client teams.”

Fish says it can be very tempting to just focus on immediate business challenges, treating the symptoms rather than causes.

“For me this new role is about looking at things more collaboratively with our clients, delivering them best in class outcomes and having a bigger picture perspective. Ultimately we’re focused on strategic conversations and long-term solutions.

“It has been immensely satisfying to establish Media Lab in Australia and partner with our Westpac client to create this new way of working.  I will continue to support in the development of this model while looking forward to the opportunity to take on new and different challenges with GroupM.”

Dream job

Naomi Larkin has been appointed the new editor of NZ House & Garden, taking over from Sally Duggan.

Larkin is an accomplished and experienced lifestyle magazine editor, and currently heads up Dish magazine. Among other milestones in her career, she is a former editor of Simply You Living and Simply You Style (Bauer Media), and before that the leading South African home lifestyle title House and Leisure.

Larkin describes the NZ House & Garden editor role as her dream job. She will start on 6 May based in the Auckland Stuff office. 

Going global

AppNexus has announced the appointment of Samuel Tan to the role of senior director, market development for Asia Pacific, responsible for go-to-market strategy across the region.

Tan formerly served as senior director, market development for Australia and New Zealand, and his remit now includes AppNexus’ teams in Singapore and Japan.

The international appointment complements AppNexus’ growth in Singapore, South East Asia, East Asia, and India.

Samir Shergill, vice president of global markets at AppNexus, says in his tenure Tan has “demonstrated both commercial and operational excellence, overseeing impressive growth for advertisers, broadcasters, and publishers in Australia and New Zealand”.

“Having built trusted relationships with clients and AppNexus’ executive leadership, he is the ideal person to bolster cohesion across international markets and shepherd innovation for JAPAC’s premier buyers and sellers.”

Tan says the steady growth of programmatic in Asia Pacific underlines the importance of the regions to AppNexus’ overarching strategy and success.

“I’m proud that we have played a key role in the industry’s evolution,” says Tan. “Together with our talented teams here, I look forward to helping marketers and publishers create meaningful differentiation across mature and emerging markets.”

Sustainabilty first

Porter Novelli NZ has announced the launch of a specialised sustainability practice with James Walker joining as executive director – sustainability.

Walker has extensive experience driving sustainability programmes across the public and private sector, most recently at the Ministry for the Environment, and Woolworths Group. 

Porter Novelli managing director Sarah Williams says the agency has long recognised the importance of sustainability to New Zealand businesses and has witnessed an acceleration of corporates wanting to make a positive environmental and social impact.

In his most recent role as deputy secretary partnerships and customers at the Ministry for the Environment, Walker led the Ministry’s division responsible for mobilising New Zealanders and partnering with change-makers.

He led work on the transition to a circular economy; collaborative action on plastic packaging and bags; the Ministry’s sustainability strategy; environmental innovation; and the public consultation on the development of the Zero Carbon Bill. 

Prior to his role at MfE, Walker was general manager corporate affairs at Woolworths Group New Zealand, where he led Countdown’s sustainability strategy and reporting programme. There he led initiatives such as the company’s single-use plastic bag ban — the first supermarket to do so – and industry-leading domestic violence and transgender transitioning policies.

Formerly, he worked at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a policy officer (trade and environment) and then Deputy Ambassador to the Netherlands.

Walker says from his time working across retail and government, “I get a kick out of helping businesses make a real difference. Business can lead environmental and social change, because it can move fast, is willing to experiment, and can bring people along.”

“I’m really looking forward to starting up this new practice, alongside my old mates Sarah and Lou, and the team at Porter Novelli. Getting alongside a range of different businesses to help them make an impact is going to be a huge buzz.”

Williams says: “as our thinking around a sustainability practice gathered pace, all roads led to James being the right person to help bring this to life. His track record at driving change, his connections and influencing skills, plus his Porter Novelli-aligned sense of humour made it a no-brainer. James is a former client and the mutual trust and respect is a fantastic place to start.”

Walker will work across the Clemenger Group, which Porter Novelli NZ is a part of, to support our businesses and clients to achieve their sustainability ambitions – and to communicate their actions effectively. 

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