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Spring brings new HR life…

…as Clems hires an experienced digi-boffin, Designworks adds another senior string to its management bow and Reach Media and Positively Wellington Tourism both announce new business development managers.

Major Tom

Clemenger Group Wellington has beefed up its interactive offering with the appointment of Thomas Scovell to the newly created role of director of digital innovation.

Scovell has over 16 years digital experience, both in the US dot com market and domestically, and has developed digital strategies and delivered projects for Meridian Energy, Telecom NZ, Tourism New Zealand, National Bank, Z Energy, MetService, NZ Herald and NZTA.

He joins from Wellington digital shop HeyDay, where he helped write the Story of New Zealand’s Internet, Down to the Wire, to celebrate the 21st birthday of the Internet in New Zealand. He has also worked for Shift in both Auckland and Wellington.

“This is a really great hire for both Clemenger BBDO and AIM Proximity,” says Andrew Holt, managing director of Clemenger BBDO. “We looked long and hard for someone who can talk both ideas and tech and Thomas is a natural at both. He’s worked in digital almost as long as we’ve been using it as a communications tool, but he combines that unrivalled industry experience with the curiosity and insight of a great planner. He’ll help make our clients’ work both more interactive and more effective … We’re putting digital at the heart of everything we do for our clients and with Thomas joining I believe we now have one the country’s best digital thinkers at the heart of our team.”

“It’s so great to see that digital really has come of age and smart clients and agencies are putting it at the heart of their business,” says Scovell.

Left brain, right brain

Designworks recently announced the appointment of Lindy Shuttleworth in the newly created role of client strategist. And it’s added another new human to the gaggle, after naming David Lyall in another newly created role of creative strategist.

Lyall worked as strategist and writer with brand strategy agency Brian R Richards Ltd and his new role combines artistic and analytical disciplines to bridge the gap between business problems and design outcomes.

“The role of creative strategist requires using design thinking to build brand concepts that engage emotionally as well as literally,” says Designworks head of creative strategy, Michael Crampin. “David’s appointment shows our commitment to further grow and evolve our ability to create more compelling brand stories and broaden brand experience design. Creative strategy is a key discipline in our mix to bring to life transformation strategies in the most imaginative ways—here and overseas.”

“People have mentioned that it must be genetic,” says Lyall. “I have an economist mother and an artist father. It creates some fruitful internal friction. I am looking forward to helping Designworks further drive its work in brand transformation.”

Before joining the design fraternity, Lyall spent several years studying mathematics, in between his studies helping to establish innovative electricity retailer Bosco Connect. His biggest lesson: “Entrepreneurship is simply shorthand for getting things done.”

Reach out

Megan Dixon has just been appointed business development manager for www.lasoo.co.nz, Reach Media’s pre-shop search engine that displays current specials and offers from participating catalogues and retailers around New Zealand. She comes from Tangible Media, where she spent four years as the advertising sales manager for NZ Retail.

Contact Megan Dixon (09) 574 44437, 0275 112889, [email protected].

All Welly and good 

Positively Wellington Tourism (PWT), Positively Wellington Venues (PWV) and Te Papa have partnered to establish a new business development manager position in a bid to drive trans-Tasman business to the capital.

Sydney-based business development manager Andrea Werner will start working for the Wellington Convention Bureau 30 hours a week from October 3.

Originally from New Zealand, she has extensive experience in the conventions and incentives (C&I) market from working with Focus New Zealand, Shoal Bay Resort and Spa and Four Seasons (Regent Hotels). She will provide professional conference organisers and association, corporate and incentive clients in Australia support to make it easy to choose Wellington for their next business event.

PWT chief executive David Perks says while leisure and business visitation from across the ditch is going from strength-to-strength, figures show the C&I market is still ripe for the picking.

According to the Ministry of Economic Development International Visitor Arrival figures, Wellington saw a 13 percent increase in Australian visitors signalling a conference as their main reason to visit in the year to July, compared to a national growth of ten percent.

“But we’re still talking pretty small numbers. About 4600 people across the year,” Perks says. “Currently only around five percent of our conventions-based room nights are from the Australian market; we want to raise this to 15 percent within three years to in excess of 28,000 room nights per year.”

This would increase the estimated value of the Australian C&I market to Wellington from $4.37 million to $7 million, an increase of 60 percent.

Glenys Coughlan, chief executive of Positively Wellington Venues, says having just integrated six of the city’s best venues under the new umbrella makes now the perfect time for the new partner initiative.

“With additional air capacity on the Tasman and the strength of the Australian dollar, we think the time is right to invest in growing the market. This new partnership will build on the Wellington Convention Bureau’s existing work programme, bringing increased business across the city’s convention sector.”

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