MFM appoints Amsterdam-based Media Director to support European growth
Integrated media agency MFM has announced the appointment of Celine Prevos as Media Director to strengthen the agency’s strategic media capabilities as it responds to demand for integrated relationships with creative agencies and their clients.
Working across clients in Benelux and the UK, Prevos’ communications design background and experience working across strategy and media will stand her in excellent stead to guide clients through the benefits of an integrated approach.
Prevos joins MFM from Initiative, part of Omnicom Media, where she served as Communications Design Director. She has led media strategy for government clients in the Netherlands such as DPC, alongside the Dutch Police Academy, Young Capital, Budget Thuis, and Nakd.
IAB UK appoints Denise Breslin as Commerce Media Lead amid soaring sector investment
Denise Breslin, formerly of Uber Advertising and Mobsta, has joined IAB UK as Commerce Media Lead to lead the trade body’s work in one of the fastest-growing areas of digital advertising.
Against a backdrop of sharply increasing investment and expanding media propositions, Breslin will focus on helping to turn rapid growth into a sustainable, scalable market – bringing IAB members together to develop the shared standards, measurement frameworks and interoperability needed to underpin long-term investment.
Breslin brings extensive experience across ad tech and commerce media to her new role, having co-founded Mobsta in 2012 and run the business for nine years before moving to Uber Advertising to help grow its UK media offering. In her new role, Breslin reports to James Chandler, Chief Strategy Officer at IAB UK.
Former Utiq, Xandr and Microsoft adtech leader joins illuma
Michel Guillon, an adtech leader with two decades of experience across solutions consulting, product management and engineering, has joined contextual intelligence specialist illuma as Head of Solutions Architecture.
Guillon joins illuma from Utiq, where he held the role of Head of Solution Consulting UK; prior to his time there, he was a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft. He has also held Solution Consultant roles at AppNexus and Xandr, where he rose to the role of Director, Solution Consulting prior to joining Microsoft. In these roles, he worked closely with illuma’s integrations.
In this role, Guillon will bring additional expertise to illuma’s commercial, product, technology and data teams, helping partners integrate illuma’s contextual intelligence into their own systems at enterprise scale.
CEO of World Federation of Advertisers, Stephan Loerke, to step down after leading organisation for 24 years
The World Federation of Advertisers’ CEO Stephan Loerke is to step down in mid-2027, having led the organisation for more than two decades.
Loerke has led the organisation through a period of significant growth. He joined the organisation in 1998 as Public Affairs Manager reporting to former Managing Director Bernhard Adriaensens. The organisation then brought together 19 member companies and 32 national advertiser associations, with a turnover of approximately €500k. It ran two working groups, one for media and one for policy professionals.
In 2002, Loerke was made Deputy Managing Director before taking over the organisation as CEO in 2003. Under his leadership, the organisation quickly grew in terms of membership, working groups and staff headcount. Today, the WFA unites more than 150 of the world’s biggest brands with national associations in 60 countries and a turnover in excess of €10m.
The process of recruiting a replacement will begin now with a five-person panel including WFA President David Wheldon, Vice-President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Ferrero Phil Myers, Treasurer and Director General of the French Advertisers Association (UDM) Jean Luc Chétrit, Chief Consumer and Marketing Officer and Chief Growth Officer, International Foods at PepsiCo Jane Wakely and Chief Marketing Officer at Diageo Cristina Diezhandino.
Havas’ Prose on Pixels appoints Kate Johnson as EVP UK, Marta Seruya as Global Strategy Director
Prose on Pixels (POP), the global content-at-scale network from Havas, has appointed Kate Johnson as Executive Vice President, UK.
Having played a pivotal role in POP UK’s growth over the past two years, in her new role Johnson will lead the UK market while continuing to strengthen the pipeline to its borderless studio nearshore and offshore network.
With more than two decades of experience building and leading high-performing creative and production organisations, Johnson’s background brings deep expertise and proven leadership gained at companies like Oliver and Chelsea Football Club. Throughout her career, she has been recognised for creating environments where teams can thrive while delivering outstanding results for clients.
In further news, POP UK is also extending its strategic capabilities with Marta Seruya, joining the UK management team alongside Johnson in the role of Global Strategy Director. Working closely with all studio teams, Seruya will help ensure POP’s audience-first strategy continues to be a key differentiator for clients navigating increasingly complex content ecosystems – enabling more effective solutions and business outcomes.
Perfect Stranger appoints Tony Kadillak as Head of Client Partnerships
Perfect Stranger, the global integrated creative company from Hornet, has announced the appointment of Tony Kadillak as Head of Client Partnerships. Kadillak will work alongside Perfect Stranger’s leadership team to support the continued growth of the company’s global client base.
The appointment reunites Kadillak with Perfect Stranger Executive Creative Director Daniel Fries. The two worked together from 2010 to 2014 at Leroy & Clarkson, the Emmy-winning design and branding agency Fries founded in 2001. Kadillak brings more than 20 years’ experience in the creative sector and co-founded Assembly, a networking event for entertainment and brand marketers.
Kadillak will focus on brands that want their marketing to move the business and are ready to invest in long-term builds to get there. Kadillak’s appointment supports Perfect Stranger’s ambition to expand its strategic, creative, and business development capabilities, creating new opportunities for collaboration and long-term client partnerships.
Landor promotes James Withey to Global EVP, Strategy
Global brand and design consultancy Landor, part of WPP, has promoted James Withey to the newly created role of Global EVP, Strategy, giving him global leadership of its strategy offer. Withey will lead Landor’s global team of strategists and oversee the continued evolution of its strategy offer across three core specialisms: corporate, consumer and experience.
Withey brings more than 25 years’ experience spanning brand strategy, digital, research, innovation and consultancy leadership to his new position. Alongside senior leadership roles at FutureBrand and Siegel+Gale, he has run three consultancies spanning private equity-backed and founder-led businesses, as well as his own brand consulting business – giving him a broad perspective across strategy, clients and the business of branding.
He first joined Landor in 2001, spending almost ten years there and ultimately becoming Head of Strategy, Consumer Brands, before returning to the business in 2021. Since returning, Withey has played a central strategic role in some of Landor’s most significant transformation programmes, including A&O Shearman and LeShuttle.
Mint Gecko hires ex-Citigate consultant Will Easton as it evolves its model
Mint Gecko has revealed plans to evolve from an agency and freelancer collective into a broader “habitat” for independent talent, specialist businesses and agency partners ahead of the formal launch of its new proposition later this year.
The expanded proposition will formally launch later in 2026, but founder Chris Wilson-Cambata has said the business had decided to talk about the evolution earlier than planned following the arrival of former Citigate Dewe Rogerson consultant Will Easton.
Easton has joined Mint Gecko as a freelance PR specialist, bringing extensive corporate and financial communications experience across reputation, media relations, asset management, investment, real estate and transactions. Outside communications, he is also an established electronic music producer and DJ, with releases supported by major names across dance music and radio backing including BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong.
Elmwood announces appointment of new Creative Director for US Studio
Strategic brand and design agency Elmwood, part of the MSQ Group, today announced the appointment of Elisa Maezono as Creative Director for the US.
In her new role, Maezono is tasked with working across key corporate accounts Alcon and Mars, while also covering ad hoc consumer work. She will partner with Creative Director Amelia Cheung to lead the creative team on all projects, and will report into Justin Fines, Executive Creative Director, New York at Elmwood.
Maezono has an extensive background in branding and design and a proven record of creative excellence and design leadership. She has previously worked on projects for Capsule Pharmacy as the lead brand identity designer. Maezono was also the creative director for the identity of the Las Vegas Museum of Art.
Rise at Seven brings on Jellyfish veterans Rob Philbin, Chris Krizsak in senior roles
Former Jellyfish Head of Earned Media across UK & International Rob Philbin has departed the agency after more than a decade to join Rise at Seven in the role of Group Director, Organic Growth in its head office in Manchester. At Jellyfish, Philbin headed up a 60-person organic team across SEO, content, and digital PR and personally led a portfolio of globally recognised consumer brands.
He joins Rise at Seven as they launch into international markets with a new organic growth function, which Philbin will lead globally as a senior member of the management team. Prior to Jellyfish, Philbin spent 8 years heading up organic performance at Latitude agency, where he worked with Matt Holmes, who is also now at Rise at Seven as Executive Director, Integrated Strategy.
Alongside Philbin, Rise at Seven has headhunted another former Jellyfish veteran, Chris Krizsak, in the German market as Associate Director of Organic to lead their European expansion. Krizsak further strengthens the agency’s global strategic offering after spending his career looking after brands including Ugg, Hoka, and Teva.
