Independent media agency, The Kite Factory, has announced the appointment of Niki Grant to the newly-created role of Director of Search. Grant joins The Kite factory from digital marketing agency Jellyfish where she was Senior Training Director. She starts her new role on 1st June and will report directly to Managing Director, James Smith. She brings 13 years of experience across a range of sectors including finance, e-commerce, auto, travel, FMCG, pharma, and telco. Throughout these sectors, she has worked in a range of roles across both independents and networks and her previous clients include Volvo, Facebook, Unilever and Boston Consulting Group.
iCrossing UK has named Jamie Clifford as Managing Director. As MD, Clifford will be responsible for iCrossing’s three offices across the UK: Brighton, London and Cardiff, as well as managing the agency’s entire portfolio of clients, which includes American Express, Fidelity, Pfizer, the Welsh Government, De Beers and Tempcover. Most recently Clifford was Chief Client Officer and prior to joining iCrossing UK, held a number of senior roles across the marketing landscape at agencies including iProspect and MediaCom.
Wavemaker has appointed Andrew Spurrier-Dawes (ASD) to the role of Head of Precision, EMEA. ASD joins Wavemaker from MediaCom where he was Global Digital Director, leading digital strategy, planning and buying for numerous global clients including Mars Pet, Mars Food and GSK. He also worked in the UK business, leading the digital business in Sky, Tesco and eBay among many others. He brings more than 13 years of digital experience to this new role at Wavemaker and will report to EMEA CEO Ruth Stubbs and Marc Pearson, Global Head of Performance & Activation.
Passwordless identity management provider Beyond Identity, has announced the appointment of its Vice President of EMEA, Tony Shadrake. With 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry – both in the UK and the US – Shadrake brings with him unique insights from these two dynamic markets. Previous experience includes senior roles at VMware/Carbon Black, Webroot, and Computer Associates. At Carbon Black, Shadrake was the first man on the ground in EMEA and was instrumental in building the business from the ground up.
RIMES has announced that Brad Hunt has been appointed CEO. The appointment comes as the business accelerates the development of its innovative data management solutions for the asset management industry. Drawing on 30 years’ experience at organisations such as Bank of New York Mellon, IHS-Markit and Goldman Sachs, Hunt is a recognised leader of innovative growth businesses in wholesale capital markets, spanning electronic trading, data services, and financial technology. RIMES’ Co-Founder and CEO, Christian Fauvelais, will retain an active role on company’s board where he will continue to provide guidance and support over the company’s strategy and focus on retaining RIMES’ uniquely customer centric culture built over the last 25 years.
Inskin Media, which specialises in multi-screen, high impact digital brand advertising, has made two key appointments in its Singapore office as it continues its global expansion. MJ Chua has been appointed as Sales Director, Asia. Formerly Regional Sales Lead at Southeast Asia’s leading ‘superapp’, Grab, he is an experienced sales and partnerships leader with an enviable track record in the marketing and advertising industry; skilled in digital strategy, integrated marketing and data analysis. Meanwhile, Trina Lim has been appointed as Senior Commercial Manager, Asia. Most recently Senior Account Manager at independent advertising platform, Amboee, she boasts a decade of experience in the marketing industry.
Independent media services agency, The Specialist Works, has announced the promotion of Verity Brown to Managing Director. Brown, who joined The Specialist Works in 2015 to lead the planning team, has been Managing Partner for the past four years, successfully bringing in high-value new business including Frasers Group, Ovo Energy, Toolstation, Hastings Direct and Autotrader. With a career spanning 14 years, Brown honed her craft at Starcom, Spark Foundry, PHD and Carat, working with clients including P&G, Kellogg’s, McCain, and Warner Bros.
The Ozone Project has appointed Martin Harriman as its first-ever Chair. In joining Ozone, Harriman brings a huge wealth of executive leadership from the cutting edge of technology and telecommunications and has extensive experience in chairing high growth, early stage businesses. Most recently he was Non-Executive Chair for WaveOptics Ltd, the Augmented Reality company that was sold to Snap Inc. for over $500 million last week. Harriman is also Non-Executive Chair for Cambridge Communications Ltd and a Non-Executive Director of Community Fibre Ltd.
Independent audience experience media agency Yonder Media has announced the appointment of Louise Martell as Partner and Chief Strategy Officer. She joins the agency from OMD, where she was Group Strategy Partner EMEA and Comms Strategy Lead at Media Arts Lab, the division set up to service the Apple account. As Partner and CSO, Martell will co-lead the agency alongside Managing Director, Ed Cox, providing her well established strategic experience to the business as it seeks to establish a leadership position in this new agency category. Martell brings with her more than 20 years’ media agency experience, having held senior roles at Mediacom and Vizeum prior to joining OMD in 2017. She joins in September.
Ogilvy UK has appointed Fiona Gordon as its new Chief Executive Officer. Since joining Ogilvy as a graduate trainee in the 90’s, Gordon has held key roles in the USA, Asia, and the UK leading large advertising, experience and integrated teams. Gordon starts as CEO with immediate effect moving from her current position as Ogilvy Chief Client Officer EMEA, where she focused on making EMEA and the UK a beacon for Ogilvy’s growth and creative vision. Prior to her EMEA role, Gordon was the WPP UK Team Lead for Walgreens Boots Alliance, building a multi-awarding winning WPP team of experts who not only grew revenue by $3million in a year but managed to secure Boots’ highest brand reputation scores for 10 years, before leading and retaining the business in a global pitch in 2020.
Cavai, the conversational advertising cloud, has announced the appointment of Matt Gauthier as Sales Director for their growing US team. Gauthier is based in Seattle, Washington, and will play a pivotal role in bringing Cavai stateside to help brands and agencies deliver better advertising through conversational formats. Previously Senior Account Executive at SaaS company LiveRamp and VP of Sales at PushSpring, later acquired by T-Mobile, he has also held various roles at Amazon and Microsoft.
Independent, integrated agency CreativeRace has announced the appointment of Tim Donald as Executive Creative Director, further strengthening their team following a number of key hires over the past 6 months. Formerly of Social Chain, Donald has extensive experience across a number of major London agencies including Mother and VCCP. He’s worked with high-profile brands including Beats by Dre, KFC, Johnnie Walker, Nike and Sonos. Donald has also been at key agencies Anyways and 101 London, and his work includes the Arla Protein ‘20 for 20 Challenge’, GAME ‘Gamerclaus’ Christmas campaign and Johnnie Walker ‘The Man Who Walked Around the World’ feature documentary.
