Zitcha launches its European operations with new hires to its office in London. Joining with three decades of combined experience in retail, media, marketing and sales, Darren Jacobs and Dan Sands arrive at Zitcha as EMEA Sales Directors. Dan Sands has been at the forefront of Retail Media as EMEA Sales Director for CitrusAds, where he worked with retailers to create a unified retail media offering. Joining Zitcha with over a decade working in retail, Sands understands how to support brands and retailers, globally, to optimise how they engage shoppers. Most recently he was the EMEA Director of Retail Partnerships at Firework, and prior to that he held multiple leadership positions at Nielsen Brandbank, working with retailers such as Carrefour, Tesco, Sainsbury & Loblaws, alongside the world’s largest CPGs, to effectively create, manage, measure and optimise product content. As a former speaker at Dmexco, Madfest, Paris Connect and Innovest, Darren Jacobs appreciates market nuances. He’s spent the best part of two decades honing his sales craft across multiple markets including the UK, Singapore and Australia working for Dennis Publishing, Yahoo, iClick, Nugit and Shuttlerock. The latter 3 were global sales leadership roles with a focus on GTM and building teams in multiple markets. In this time he’s worked with all the major media agency networks plus directly with global brands and partners such as Nestle, P&G, Unilever, Kellogg’s, Diageo, Stellantis, Ford, Meta and TikTok.
AVEVA, a global specialist in industrial software, driving digital transformation and sustainability, has announced the appointment of Joanna Mainguy as Sustainability Accelerator Director. Mainguy’s appointment testifies to AVEVA’s dedication to strengthening the company’s sustainability impact in line with advancing global climate commitments. As Sustainability Accelerator Director, Mainguy will focus exclusively on sustainability solutions and strategies to accelerate innovation that will help AVEVA’s customers to achieve their net-zero targets. She will look at how AVEVA leverages current market and customer analysis to inform its in-house development team, advise on new customer collaborations and on how AVEVA should grow its partnership network and M&A pipeline to reflect its sustainability priorities. Mainguy was formerly Industry Director, EMEA, for Energy & Sustainability at Microsoft, where she led strategic engagements with major energy providers and supported the energy transition with digital solutions. She has worked across the entire energy value chain and has more than 15 years of experience in process industries and the energy sector, including work for major system integrators, software and energy companies.
Global experience design company, Imagination, has appointed Sara Parrish and Louise Odquier as Strategy Directors in the UK. Joining at a transformative time for Imagination, they will build on the business’ award-winning expertise in experience design with Parrish spearheading the expansion of its consulting offer in London and Odquier taking the lead on Imagination’s suite of luxury clients, including JLR and Rolls Royce. Both roles are effective immediately, reporting to Tom Gray, Global Chief Strategy Officer. Parrish has extensive experience in strategy, experience design, and consulting, having previously served as Global CX Strategy Director at Clear M&C Saatchi and Lead Experience Consultant at krow Group. Her previous work includes award-winning projects for some of the world’s largest and most successful brands, including IKEA, Bacardi, Barclays, and Toyota, to name a few. Parrish’s role will help lead and grow Imagination’s consultancy offer in London, building on the company’s success working with brands, rights holders, investors and nations to unlock the value of the Experience Economy. Odquier will bring her extensive knowledge of modern luxury to help shape the future of some of the world’s leading brands, across the full spectrum of Imagination’s Destinations, Live and Content offers. She has 15 years of experience across luxury, entertainment, technology and automotive for global brands such as BMW, LVMH, Diageo, Disney, Samsung and Google. With a focus on brand experiences that tap into culture and community, her work and thinking has been featured in LBB, The Drum, Campaign Live and The Guardian. Odquier’s previous roles include luxury lifestyle group Quintessentially as well as social-first creative agencies Laundry Service, 20ten and Catch Digital.
Medallia, the global specialist in customer and employee experience, has announced the addition of Ben Brewer as Chief Revenue Officer. Brewer brings extensive experience leading large sales organisations at companies like Cornerstone OnDemand, SAP Concur and Nintex. Most recently, Brewer served as the Chief Sales Officer at Cornerstone OnDemand and led the company to significant growth, helping clients in all regions and verticals use Cornerstone’s cloud-based technology to help employees better engage their customers and partners.
Publicis Media UK has announced Jane Holding as Chief Client Officer in a newly created role. Holding is promoted from her current role as Client Managing Director on the Samsung media account and will continue to work closely with the team in her new role. In this new role, Holding will report into Publicis Media UK CEO, Niel Bornman, and will be dedicated to generating value and growth for clients through the strategic use of Publicis Media’s comprehensive suite of solutions and expertise. Collaborating closely with senior leaders from across its agency brands (Zenith, Starcom, and Spark Foundry), Holding will leverage her in-depth knowledge of the media landscape to identify new opportunities tailored to clients’ evolving needs. Holding has overseen Publicis Groupe’s Samsung Constellation team in the UK for more than five years as Managing Director, adding the European Operations to her remit more recently. Under her leadership, the Constellation team has pitched and won several new scopes over the past few years, including CRM, Analytics and Commerce. As a Power of One offering, the Constellation team draws on talent from across Publicis Groupe UK agencies. Holding has almost 25 years of experience within the industry, and over two decades with Publicis Media. She has successfully led a broad spectrum of blue-chip clients across a range of sectors including Entertainment, Luxury, Automotive, Telecommunications, FMCG and Travel.
Seen TV, the innovative media platform dedicated to democratising mobile journalism, has announced the appointment of Alexander Oser as its Chief Operating Officer. With a distinguished background at Apple, Snap Inc and Metaio, Oser brings a wealth of experience and strategic vision to further propel Seen TV’s mission of immersive storytelling. In his capacity as COO, Oser will lead initiatives aimed at crafting the immersive experiences of tomorrow, with a keen focus on transcending the confines of mobile screens through compelling storytelling. Additionally, he will spearhead efforts to optimise Seen TV’s operational framework, with a primary objective of enhancing profitability while fostering strong relationships with brands and advertisers. Additionally, Oser will champion a culture of innovation and daring exploration, ensuring that Seen TV remains at the forefront of pioneering advancements in storytelling and technology. In his previous roles, Oser has played a pivotal part in shaping how immersive technologies can be used throughout the world. Now, as the Chief Operating Officer of Seen TV, he is set to leverage his expertise to drive the adoption of spatial computing and other immersive technologies in the realm of journalism.
Product of the Year is announcing the hire of Sales Director, David Gray. Bringing two decades of experience within marketing and digital agencies, Gray will help to build on the company’s brand connections and boost sales. Before joining Product of the Year, the UK’s largest consumer-voted award, Gray was a business development director at market research consultancy, Catalyx. While at Catalyx, he worked with global brands and multinational corporations including P&G, Reckitt and Unilever, to help channel consumer insights into innovative new product development and ideation.
Digital marketing agency Bring Digital has made two significant senior hires in Sales and Partnerships to accelerate its ambitious 2024 growth plans. Matthew Marriott joins as Bring Digital’s Head of Growth from tech consultancy 6B. He brings with him over 16 years of experience in business development for digital brands. Paul Casey joins from sister agency Space 48 (part of the Dark Matter Commerce group) as Bring Digital’s first-ever Partnerships Director. Casey will leverage over 17 years of experience to build strategic tech partnerships and drastically expand the brand’s reach to new audiences. Bring Digital has also announced two significant internal promotions. Jonny Taylor will lead the promotion of the Bring Digital brand as its new Head of Marketing, and Samantha Morris will helm the PPC and paid social teams as Paid Media Director. They follow a total of 14 internal promotions made at Bring Digital throughout 2023.
