CTI Digital has appointed Justin Bland as Chief Operating Officer to bolster the executive leadership team. In his remit, Bland is charged with developing and enhancing the delivery of work for CTI’s clients and improving operational performance across the full suite of services offered by the integrated digital agency. Bland joins CTI with over 13 years in the marketing industry, working at agencies such as Razorfish, R/GA, Essence and Wunderman, and, most recently, at an agency and group level at Group M and WPP as Global Executive Director of People, Operations and Transformation. He is an experienced and versatile operator. At Wunderman North America, he helped establish the Operations practice and led the Design Kitchen business as MD of the SF office, focusing on social content creation. He then went on to design, launch and grow Essence and GroupM’s offshore product, scaling it to over 1,000 specialists in four countries within a two-year period. Most recently, Bland was part of WPP’s Open-X team, partnering with Coca-Cola to drive its marketing transformation across the entire customer journey. He was a leadership team member who designed and built a brand new fully integrated studio operating model specifically for Coca-Cola, which included a 1,500-strong team deployed across nine global studios.
The PHA Group, the PR, digital, and creative agency, has announced the appointment of Helen Salvin to its newly created position of Head of Sustainability. Salvin joined The PHA Group five years ago. In her most recent role as Associate Director in the agency’s Corporate division, she honed her specialism working with large-scale corporates, SMEs, decarbonisation leaders, and challenger brands across various sectors including professional services, renewable energy, FMCG, clean transport and agriculture.
Performics UK, the digital performance engine within Publicis Media UK, announces the appointment of Sam Holt as UK CEO, to support the continued expansion of its performance offering. Holt’s appointment to CEO follows five successful years in the role of Managing Director for Performics UK, during which time he has driven significant growth for Publicis Media UK clients now working with Performics UK. Made up of more than 1000 performance marketing specialists, Performics is where data, technology and automation align to support clients to outperform in Search, Programmatic, Social, Retail Media and Affiliates. With Holt as UK Managing Director, Performics UK has seen some of its strongest business results in its 25-year history. In his new role, Holt is responsible for accelerating growth for clients through performance solutions and continued expansion of Performics and its capabilities. Using best-in-class data capabilities such as Epsilon and CitrusAd, Holt will lead Performics to deliver competitive “Big-Data” and “Smart-Data” strategies for clients, enabling them to excel in their field. Holt has previously held various senior roles for the business, including stints in China as Vice President of Performics and in US where he was Vice President of Global Client Solutions. Having dedicated the past 15 years to performance marketing, Holt recognised the speed of change in the industry and created the Technology and Intelligence (T&I) offering in 2021, enabling Performics to adapt to new advances in technology and continue to offer clients innovative proprietary solutions and products. Equally, Holt’s wealth of experience has seen him lead Performics to win Performance Agency of the Year last year and also earned him a place on Performance Marketing World’s Power 100 list.
MiQ, a global specialist in programmatic media, announces the appointment of Niall Murtagh as Sales Director for Ireland, officially launching the company into the market. Murtagh brings over 15 years of local market experience across the digital media landscape from his time at Electric Media and Packed House. He has represented notable international companies including Microsoft and Yahoo and prominent publishers such as the Irish Times and Entertainment.ie – monetising their Irish audiences. Murtagh’s extensive experience has also garnered valuable insights on the particular needs of Irish brands. As Sales Director, Murtagh’s role will focus on market expansion in Ireland, fostering strong relationships with both brands and agencies across the country. MiQ will be powering their solutions using geo-contextual data specific to the Irish market, mirroring the product roadmap in existing locations. MiQ’s Advanced TV and Cookieless solutions will be the immediate focuses in Ireland.
Kairos Group, a global creative social and influencer agency, has announced the appointment of Katy Sumption as Executive Creative Director (ECD). This strategic appointment supports the agency’s commitment to driving growth and fostering a culture of creativity, innovation and social-centric marketing strategies. Sumption joins Kairos Group with a wealth of experience including previous roles as ECD at Atomic, spearheading groundbreaking campaigns for renowned brands like Papa John’s, Hey Car, and Elgato. She also served as the social lead for Supernova, Atomic’s sister agency, and brings with her expertise in nurturing creative cultures and leveraging the power of social-first marketing to drive brand growth and engagement. Sumption will oversee the creative output of the entire agency, with a focus on elevating brand storytelling and fostering deeper connections with audiences. Her role will also involve collaborating with external experts and diverse creative communities to ensure that Kairos Group’s work remains relevant and impactful. As part of her first project for Kairos, Sumption led on the agency’s recent successful collaboration with Pepsi, launching the Corner Shop campaign spotlighting local creators and pioneers in Manchester’s and London’s vibrant cultural landscape.
Hyland, a global provider of intelligent content solutions, has named industry marketing veteran Becca Toth its new senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Toth joined Hyland in 2010, serving as an industry marketing manager in Hyland’s commercial industry business. Since then, her role has steadily grown, and most recently as vice president of marketing, she led Hyland’s global programmes, field marketing, product marketing, and corporate events teams. In her new role, she will deepen her work with Hyland’s sales and product leaders to craft Hyland’s go-to market strategy, while also guiding Hyland’s corporate communications and brand efforts.
