Movers and Shakers: Mars Wrigley, The Washington Post Creative Group, Estrella Media and more

The mobile and digital marketing industry is ever-changing, and that applies to the people as much as the technology. Movers & Shakers is our monthly round-up of the hottest hires in the industry…

(Clockwise from top left): Alejandro Pinillos, Mary Gail Pezzimenti, Enrique Guillen, Laurent Cordier, Soo Jin Oh, Stéphane Dupayage

Pimillos leaves Pepsico for senior marketing role at Mars Wrigley
Mars Wrigley has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Alejandro Pinillos as the new Vice President of Marketing for Europe, CIS & Turkey.

Pimillos joins from Pepsico, where he has served as Senior Vice President for the Snacks category in Europe since July 2011. In his new role at Mars Wrigley, he will bring his extensive international FMCG knowledge and marketing experience to build on the strong Mars Wrigley brands across Europe, CIS and Turkey.

At Pepsico, he led a team of 50 people generating $5.7bn in sales via global brands including Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Ruffles and local brands such as Walkers, Duyvis, PopWorks, and Hrusteam. He delivered continuous results on category vision, brand portfolio strategy, and end-to end innovation.

Prior to his position at Pepsico, Pimillos spent 19 years at Danone and five years at P&G, combining General Manager and Marketing roles throughout his career. He holds an impressive multi-cultural background, having studied and worked in 10 different countries: Spain, Ireland, US, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, France, Mexico and Switzerland.

In preparation for his move to Mars Wrigley, he has relocated from Switzerland to London with his family.

He said: “I’m excited to be joining Mars Wrigley, an organisation which already has such a strong marketing legacy, beloved portfolio of household brands, and reputation for being driven by a core set of business principles. It’s a great time to be joining the team, and I can’t wait to continue driving the industry-leading Marketing strategy across the brand portfolio.”

The Vice President position was previously held by Matt Graham, who is now serving as Mars Wrigley’s Global Vice President of Marketing for Food and Nutrition.

Pezzimenti to head up creative at The Washington Post Creative Group
The Washington Post today has named Mary Gail Pezzimenti as Head of Creative for The Washington Post Creative Group. In this role, she will cultivate the vision, purpose and innovation roadmap for The Post’s award-winning in-house branded content studio, delivering exceptional storytelling experiences that surprise and delight Post readers and brand partners. The Post’s Creative Group has created campaigns for major brands including AT&T, Discover, Marriott BonVoy and Rolex.
Pezzimenti most recently served as Vice President of Content Marketing at Healthline Media/Red Ventures where she was responsible for managing the ideation and content creation teams delivering content strategies for digital advertising revenue clients. Prior to HL/RV, Pezzimenti was VP of Content for CBSi, leading editorial rebrand efforts for TV Guide and Chowhound, as well as commerce content creation strategy across the CNET Media Group.

“The Washington Post Creative Group has always pushed the boundaries of traditional brand storytelling, tapping into the same leading tools and technologies as the Post newsroom to produce immersive, multiplatform experiences that resonate,” said Shauna Little, VP of Marketing for Client Solutions. “Mary Gail’s rich background in creating high impact content strategies will be a powerful complement to the Creative Group’s extraordinary work and innovation, ensuring we continue to deliver extraordinary results for our clients and readers alike.”

Estrella Media hires Guillen as Chief Content Officer
Spanish-language media company, Estrella Media, has hired Enrique Guillen as its Chief Content Officer. Guillen joins Estrella Media from NBCUniversal, where he served as Executive Vice President, Commercial Strategy and International Development for the Universal Studio Group. He will report to CEO Peter Markham and be based in the company’s Burbank offices.

Guillen will oversee the US domestic and global content strategy for Estrella Media’s television, streaming, digital, audio, events, and digital businesses, including developing, producing, and acquiring all television and film content, overseeing network and station programming, news, sports, digital content, and studio productions. In addition, he will be responsible for the international distribution of the company’s content.

Prior to his time at NBCUniversal, Guillen was one of the founding executives of the Universal Television Alternative Studio. As EVP of Alternative Development and Production, he oversaw the development, launch, and international rollout of properties, including ‘World of Dance’, ‘Titan Games’, ‘Hollywood Game Night’,and the award-winning game show ‘The Wall’, produced in over 25 countries. Guillen first joined NBC Entertainment as Senior Vice President of Alternative Programming, developing and producing primetime franchises, including ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ and ‘Last Comic Standing’. He also led innovative content, merchandising, and digital initiatives for the network and studios brands.

“Enrique brings impeccable credentials as a leading executive in global content development and distribution, and he is a perfect fit to help our company accelerate our leadership position,” said Markham. “We look forward to Enrique taking a prominent role in helping us plot our next phase of growth as the changes taking place in our industry present unprecedented opportunities for Estrella Media.”

IAB Tech Lab promotes two
IAB Tech Lab, the global digital advertising technical standards-setting body, has promoted Shailley Singh to Executive Vice President, Product, and Chief Operating Officer, and Jill Wittkopp to Vice President, Product. 

“The digital advertising industry is undergoing changes and solving challenges at an unprecedented rate while simultaneously welcoming opportunities in new and existing environments across the advertising industry,” said IAB Tech Lab CEO, Anthony Katsur. “As the industry transcends, I am honored to announce the well-deserved promotions of these executives, Shailley Singh and Jill Wittkopp, who will continue to lead Tech Lab’s mission of driving the industry forward as we tackle issues and expand into new environments to ensure a thriving digital advertising ecosystem benefitting all constituents.” 

In her new role, Singh will work more closely with Katsur on Tech Lab operations and strategic planning, and will establish new IAB Tech Lab projects such as the Privacy Enhancing Technology initiative launched earlier this year and the upcoming Advanced TV roadmap.

Wittkopp is expanding her product leadership role across numerous Tech Lab projects. In addition to her current oversight of IAB Tech Lab’s Supply Chain and Tech Lab Software projects, she will drive Tech Lab product strategy, working group processes, and educate the industry on IAB Tech Lab’s most pressing technical matters.

Cordier to lead Client Services in EMEA at The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk has appointed Laurent Cordier to the role of VP of Client Services EMEA
, with responsibility for managing the company’s client services teams as they maximize the performance of their clients digital campaigns. He has over 20 years’ experience in the technology, media and programmatic advertising industries.

A graduate of the Telecom Paris engineering school in 1994, he began his career in management consulting, notably at KPMG and A.T Kearney, as Senior Manager. After a stint at Dell, he joined Googles London office in 2006. Initially in charge of developing the Display and YouTube offer in the EMEA markets, he became Sales Director in 2009 and launched the marketing of Googles programmatic offer in Europe, The Ad Exchange. In 2011, Cordier joined Googles teams in New York, where he became Managing Director in charge of Googles monetization products with publishers. global strategic partnerships with publishers as Managing Director. In 2018, he joined Headspin, the SAAS start-up specializing in mobile user experience, as Chief Revenue Officer, before joining MediaMath in 2021 as Chief Partnerships Officer.

Quantcast names Stambaugh Chief Marketing Officer 
Ad tech firm Quantcast has hired Deb Stambaugh as its Chief Marketing. Reporting to Quantcast CEO Konrad Feldman, Stambaugh will draw on her experience in ad tech, enterprise technology and marketing leadership to grow the Quantcast brand and deliver innovative solutions to enhance customer value. 

Stambaugh brings to Quantcast more than two decades of B2B technology marketing experience, with a proven track record for driving brand awareness and customer demand, while leading global teams at world-class organisations. She joins Quantcast from Samsung Ads, where during a time of tremendous growth, she led marketing for the Americas, including an integrated go-to-market strategy, brand positioning, demand-gen, public relations and media. Prior to Samsung Ads, she held leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies including IBM and SAP, as well as at startups. Stambaugh holds a Bachelor of Arts from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and an MBA from Emory University, Goizueta Business School.  

She said: “Ad tech today is incredibly complex. Quantcast has invested hundreds of millions to make it easier and more effective for advertisers. From planning to execution, Quantcast brings unrivalled technology, data and insights to deliver unparalleled results. I’m looking forward to helping more marketers get back to big ideas and creative execution while leaving the complexity of today’s ecosystem to Quantcast.” 

Dettke to Chief People Officer, Nannetti to Chairman of the Board at Uberall  
Uberall, which provides of hybrid customer experience (CX) solutions, has hired Alid Dettke as its new Chief People Officer, and Paul Nannetti as Chairman of the Board of Directors.  

Dettke has been delivering global transformation at the intersection of people and culture, strategy, innovation and digital for more than 15 years. Her global experience includes consulting for Accenture Interactive (now Accenture Song), the world’s largest digital consultancy, where she spent 11 years, to leading corporate digital innovation organizations. Most recently, she held the role of Chief Human Resources Officer and headed the global people function at Wärtsilä, the Finnish-based firm specialising in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets.

At Uberall, Dettke will focus on continuing to foster a high-performing culture that wins together by attracting, developing and retaining the right people. She will also build innovative and modern people services, processes and practices for a “choice-first” workplace that empowers people to collaborate from anywhere across the globe.

Nannetti was formerly a member of the Group Executive Committee of Capgemini, where he was responsible for Sales, Portfolio Transformation, and Cloud Services. He also led a number of other Capgemini Group businesses and has served on the boards of several private equity backed Technology organizations. He brings a wealth of experience in driving profitable growth and value creation to support Uberall’s continued success. 

“Were extremely excited to bring on two individuals, who will enable Uberall – the organization and the business – to reach the next level. Alid has impressive experience in both the people function and digital innovation. In her, we have found a Chief People Officer, who understands how to fuel growth with a people first approach,” said Florian Hübner, Uberall CEO & Founder. “The addition of Paul to our Board, which he will lead as Chairman, clearly reflects Uberalls ambition. His perspective is invaluable and his drive is truly contagious.” 

Iris signs two to Adidas account
Iris has added two senior hires to its Adidas team. Laura Randall joins the agency as Creative Director and Harry Gayner as Managing Partner. Randall brings a wealth of experience to the role, having previously led the Nike Women’s account for four years at R/GA.

This year, she and her team won the prestigious Cannes Lion Grand Prix for their work on NikeSync that helped women harness the power of their menstrual cycle. She also led Nike’s partnership with Gurls Talk, which helps to keep young girls in sport throughout their adolescence. Prior to this, she was a lead creative on McDonald’s at Leo Burnett. At Iris, Randall will be using her extensive sports marketing experience to grow the Adidas account into new areas.

Taking the reins from Iris Chairman and Founder Ian Millner, who has been acting as interim support in this role, Gayner’s global role as Managing Partner will see him focus on driving creative work on the Adidas account, while also building out a portfolio of other sport and culture brand clients for the agency.

Gayner has spent his career creating work for brands such as Budweiser and Amazon in senior roles at Anomaly and Lucky Generals. He now leaves his role as Head of Account Management at Dark Horses, which is a creative agency for sport, fitness and wellbeing, where he led brand and sponsorship campaigns for Just Eat Takeaway.com, Peloton and Chelsea FC.

“Our work with Adidas goes from strength to strength, and now with Harry and Laura joining the team, it is about to get stronger,” said Iris Chief Client Officer, Ian Bradbury. “Both bring unrivalled sports marketing experience, and as we look to evolve our expertise in this space, their attitudes and creativity will help us to push creative boundaries and deliver excellent work.”

Seedtag appoints senior leadership team to drive US growth
Contextual advertising firm Seedtag has announced its US senior leadership team, following its recent €250m funding round and opening of US headquarters in New York in July 2022. Led by US Managing Director, Brian Danzis, the company is poised to further expand to a number of major US cities by the end of 2022 and has hired senior executives to drive its sales and publishing teams. 

As Managing Director, Danzis will be responsible for the company’s growth and strategic guidance of the US team across its existing offices in New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles. With over 20 years’ experience in advertising, sales and marketing in North America, he has held a number of leadership positions in digital media and has built a reputation as an exceptional leader. Before joining Seedtag, he served as EVP, Agency Solutions for VideoAmp where he managed the national sales team. Prior to this, he was Global Head of Video & Live Event Sales at Spotify, where he developed and executed the platform’s go-to-market strategy of its video ads business. 

Seedtag has also made five other new hires. Charles Gabriel joins as US SVP, West Coast and International Sales. He has over a decade’s sales experience in digital media and advertising from Disney’s Maker Studios, Apester, Qriously and First Media. He has successfully built US and global sales teams and oversaw US video sales reaching over $140m at AOL. 

Lora Feinman joins as US SVP East Coast Sales: She has been at the forefront of pioneering developments in advertising and has led teams that developed and sold immersive VR and AR advertising experiences at Jaunt. She has also driven growth in both linear and digital media sales at AOL and Xandr/Warner Media. 

David Otis takes up the role of US VP, Independent Agencies. He joined Seedtag as its first US hire, and is responsible for building the independent agency sales team nationally. With over 11 years in the contextual advertising space, he successfully launched the independent agency arm for Teads US, scaling the business to a $15m annual run rate. 

Jim Kleinick joins as US VP, Midwest Sales: With over 15 years of digital advertising experience, he will be responsible for building and scaling the Midwest sales team. Finally, Tina Iannacchino takes up the role of US Senior Publisher Director. As Seedtag’s first Supply hire in the US market, Tina brings over 10 years’ digital media experience and is tasked with establishing strong direct relationships with publishers. Before joining Seedtag, she spent over three years at SHE Media. 

“We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Brian and the rest of the senior team into our organization,” said Albert Nieto, Seedtag Co-CEO and Co-founder. “They bring a wealth of immeasurable experience to the company and its exciting to see how our company has expanded since we launched in 2014. I’m certain that each of them will serve as outstanding leaders to their teams and I look forward to an excellent working relationship with them all.”

Oh to lead strategy at FreeWheel
FreeWheel has appointed Soo Jin Oh to the newly-created role of Chief Strategy Officer. Oh will work closely with FreeWheel leadership to develop strategic plans in support of achieving the company’s long-term vision, enhance business operations; and establish strong relationships within the advertising landscape. She will be based in New York and report to FreeWheel General Manager, Mark McKee.

TV advertising continues to transform at a rapid pace and as such, FreeWheel designed the new role of the chief strategy officer to define and lead the company’s strategic priorities across the globe, as it focuses on connecting the industry, in addition to enabling TV advertising’s addressable future, to foster simplicity, efficiency and scale across today and tomorrow’s complex TV marketplace.

With more than 15 years’ experience in media and digital, leading strategy, product and operations efforts, Oh has worked alongside leading industry companies. She joins FreeWheel from Gamut, where she rose from Vice President, Client Strategy & Solutions to pPresident in five years. Prior to Gamut, Oh served as a senior leader in data business and ad operations at Magnetic, IDG TechNetwork and DogTime Media, Inc. (now Evolve Media), amongst other roles, beginning her career as an Account Manager at Google.

“Soo Jin is renowned for building strong teams, spearheading media, data, revenue and technology strategies, and executing with measurable and impactful results to the business,” said McKee. “Her sharp mind, strong relationships and creative and strategic approaches, as well as her commitment to employee development, will be incredibly valuable to us. We look forward to working with her as FreeWheel continues to connect buyers and sellers within the new TV ecosystem and provide global technology solutions so both sides can achieve better results with ease, control and security.”

Bidstack taps O’Connor from AdColony for CRO role
In-game advertising and video game monetization platform Bidstack, has hired Jude O’Connor as its Chief Revenue Officer. A 20-year ad tech professional, O’Connor joins Bidstack after more than seven years at AdColony, one of the world’s largest mobile gaming monetization platforms. During his AdColony tenure, he transformed the business into a two-time winner of AdWeek’s Mobile Ad Network of the Year award before leading the company to a $400m exit in 2021. Prior to entering the gaming space, O’Connor worked at internet companies including Yahoo and AOL.

O’Connor’s appointment signals a significant acceleration of Bidstack’s expansion in the US market. He is tasked with overseeing global revenue and growth, while leading the team across sales, publishing, marketing, and strategy. He will rapidly scale Bidstack’s local teams and steer a go-to-market strategy centered on educating the US market on Bidstack’s pioneering and revolutionary in-game technology.

In 2022, the global gaming market as a whole will generate $196.8bn, according to Newzoo. Mobile games, which make up 53 per cent of the market ($103.5bn), have been the proving ground for the native in-game format, which now is increasingly being explored by major cross-platform publishers of PC and console titles. Bidstack’s product offering includes in-menu and rewarded video formats that provide a combination of brand awareness and performance for reaching the 3.2bn global gamers.

O’Connor said: “We’re approaching an inflection point where brands are ready to be part of the immersive, multi-touchpoint experiences that gaming offers at scale. Bidstack has spearheaded the growth of native formats, and its tech enables the cleanest and smoothest native in-game experience available in the market. I’m always attracted by the potential to build a business, and Bidstack is primed to power the next phase and evolution of video game advertising across all platforms.” 

Dupayage to Chief Product Officer at Ogury
Ogury has appointed Stéphane Dupayage as its Chief Product Officer. Dupayage will lead the company’s product organization and roadmap to build and execute new strategies around personified advertising, powered by a true IDless and cookieless solution designed for marketers, agencies and suppliers. 

With over 20 years’ experience in digital technology companies, with a majority spent in ad tech and retail media, Dupayage brings with him top-tier product, engineering and business knowledge and skills.

He first started his career at global media agency Publicis, before moving to ad tech solutions provider 24/7 Media Inc. (now Xaxis). In 2015, Dupayage went on to join digital retail media technology company Storetail as Chief Technology Officer, where he designed and delivered the first French Retail Media Platform. Most recently, he was SVP Product Retail Media at Criteo, where he delivered an industry-leading global Retail Media Platform through the combination of Hooklogic (acquired by Criteo in 2016), Storetail (acquired by Criteo in 2018) and Criteo’s own technologies.

“Stéphane is a true ad tech expert who is bringing a wealth of experience to our team,” said Ogury Chief Operating Officer, Geoffroy Martin. “As Ogury continues to grow and develop as the leader in personified advertising, Stéphane is the perfect addition to the team and will play a pivotal role in further honing our product and securing our position at the heart of the digital advertising ecosystem.”

Hearts & Science promotes Matthews to CXO role
Hearts & Science has promoted its Head of Client Experience, Amy Matthews to the newly-created role of Chief Experience Officer. She will continue to report in to Hearts’ CEO Garrett O’Reilly, and sit on the senior leadership team. 

Matthews has been with Hearts for nearly five years, and has been a Co-chair of OMG Minds as well as a Mental Health First Aider. As Hearts’ new CXO, Matthews’ mission will be to ensure the agency vision is understood and translated into the actual experience of working both for and with Hearts UK. This involves monitoring and reporting on key agency cultural and talent development, as well as holding the agency accountable for achieving key representation, wellness and satisfaction targets.

Matthews will support account leads to ensure the agency is operationally set up to provide best-in-class service to clients. She will also represent Hearts UK in key cross-functional teams on key areas, such as DE&I, across the OMG UK network. 

She said: “I am passionate about making sure that everyone’s experience of Hearts is the best it can be, from our amazing employees to all of our partners. This is an exciting time for us and it’s incredibly important that everyone feels the benefits of working with and for us and understands our goals.”

Adform adds four
Advertising platform Adform has appointed four new team members. Julien Sneeuwjagt joins as Enterprise Sales Director and will lead Adform’s UK conversations with new clients in retail and eCommerce, food and beverage and financial services, as well as independent agencies. He has a 20-year career in sales and marketing, primarily in financial services and adtech.

Global Account Director Allan Sheriff will be responsible for Adform’s largest accounts and brings eleven years of programmatic experience with independent trading desks, agency and client-side.

David Lionel, joining as Sales Account Development Manager, will nurture new business and new clients, supporting agencies and advertisers and helping them engage confidently with Adform’s full stack of adtech solutions.  

Milica Lukic joins as an Account Director, responsible for Adform’s existing clients, focusing on helping them grow their businesses by leveraging Adform’s platform and products.

Established in Denmark in 2002, Adform now has offices in Europe, Africa, North America, Asia, Australia, and a team of more than 650 employees, serving more than 2,000 clients and supporting over 25,000 accounts. Adform’s solutions include the full spectrum of ad tech capabilities: Demand Side Platform, Supply Side Platform, ad server and Data Management Platform for advertisers and publishers, and an award-winning identity solution.

“I’m delighted to welcome our new recruits to Adform,” said Phil Acton, Country Manager of Adform in the United Kingdom. “Our growth is being dictated by our clients’ needs, and strengthening our UK team means we are even better placed to deliver seamless adtech solutions to advertisers and publishers, as the industry experiences major transformation to a more open, fair and privacy-centric internet.”

Other moves:
Ad agency VaynerMedia has promoted Daisy Domenghini to Managing Director for EMEA, having served as Head of Client Partnerships since October 2021. VJ Anand, who currently serves as Head of Creative for VaynerMedia APAC, will relocate to London to become Executive Creative Director of EMEA. Both will be based in VaynerMedia’s London office. Domenghini has been at VaynerMedia since October 2021 and in that time has overseen client accounts including Heinz, NatWest, and UNICEF. In her previous role as Head of Client Partnerships, she led the addition of Durex, Zalando and Indeed as clients. Anand manages creative teams across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and India, leading projects for PepsiCo and Prudential.    

Bountiful Cow has promoted Ian Daly to Head of Activation and tasked him with continuing the agency’s growth ambitions. Daly has worked at the agency since October 2020 as Head of AV. Prior to this, he worked at Bountiful Cow’s sister agency the7stars. In his new expanded role, he will provide coherence for brands across all media channels and work closely with the strategy team to drive creativity and innovation holistically across the agency. Other changes will see Head of Planning, Ellie Roberts, move across to the newly-created role of Head of New Business and Marketing. Roberts has worked in communications planning for over 20 years, with more than four years as Head of Planning at Bountiful Cow. The new role will see Roberts focus on people, new business, and communications.

Real-time TV measurement company iSpot has appointed Jodie McAfee to the role of SVP Agency Partnerships. He is among more than 100 people hired by iSpot in 2022 as the company aggressively moves to meet the needs of independent cross-platform TV measurement and verification. In his new role, McAfee will be responsible for expanding and deepening cooperation with agencies and leading special initiatives aimed at helping agencies integrate iSpot’s products for easier buying, planning and optimization. McAfee’s team will also strengthen the bridges between agencies and the 750 direct brand customers that use iSpot’s suite of ad measurement products across the complete lifecycle of advertising from creative testing to media verification to business outcomes.  McAfee, who led the creation and development of Project OAR, the industry consortium that brought addressable standards to linear TV, will oversee agency involvement in the growing cross-platform currency movement.   

Pacvue, an enterprise-grade marketplace advertising, sales and intelligence suite, has appointed Andrew Ruegger to the role of Senior Vice President of Solutions. Ruegger has been in the data, technology and marketing space for over a decade working ,for a variety of companies including consultancies, startups, manufacturers and agencies. Prior to Pacvue, Ruegger was with WPP’s GroupM since 2013 and led roles throughout the organization in SEO, search, strategy, product, analytics, data science, eCommerce and technology. He most recently served as the Global President of Commerce for GroupM, overseeing a practice of more than 2,000 practitioners in 80 markets. He actively worked across all WPP operating companies and marketing channels to develop and deliver best-in-class, end-to-endcommerce and performance strategies to clients. In this new role as part of Pacvue’s executive leadership team, Ruegger will lead Pacvue Commerce while also helping unify efforts across Pacvue and its parent company, Assembly.

Relative Insight, a comparative text analytics software company, has hired sales expert Kimberly Shernoff to head up its new Philadelphia office. As Sales Enablement Director, Shernoff will be responsible for the US division of the company’s commercial team, onboarding and training new staff and managing all aspects of the sales function. She will use her 20+ years’ experience in corporate sales and talent acquisition, plus her significant management and coaching skills, to build the new US office. Shernoff has more than two decades of experience in sales, human capital management, talent acquisition and business development. Prior to this role, she was an independent coach for businesses and sales executives looking to enhance processes, increase sales velocity and develop targeted strategies for growth. Previously, she held executive level sales and talent recruitment positions at companies such as IBM and was an adjunct professor in advertising and sales at Bucks County Community College. She holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Science from Philadelphia University. 

Independent media agency, The Specialist Works, has hired Thinkbox’s Sam Olive as its Head of AV. He will lead the AV specialist team at The Specialist Works, overseeing delivery of best-in-class media outcomes for clients across brand and performance AV activations. With more than 20 years’ experience in the industry, working for the likes of Ebiquity PLC, Mediacom, Total Media, NatMags and Pearl & Dean, Olive joins The Specialist Works, part of Whats Possible Group, from Thinkbox, the UK’s marketing body for commercial TV. As Thinkbox’s planning controller, he was responsible for promoting the power of TV advertising to agencies. He will now work with his new team to bring this experience back to an agency setting. He will be focused on creating growth-focused, client-centric solutions, alongside planning, buying and negotiating across UK and International linear TV, BVOD, CTV and cinema. He will work across a client portfolio including Frasers Group, Auto Trader, eharmony, Toolstation and Hastings Direct.

Customer data platform BlueConic has appointed Ethan Halliwell as CFO. He will be responsible for building a world-class finance organization and championing financial and operational excellence at the company. Halliwell will be based in the Boston office. Prior to BlueConic, Halliwell spent seven years at ServiceChannel, where he worked to build the business from $12m in recurring revenue in 2014 to over $100m in 2021. His career includes time spent at Vixxo, Sallie Mae, and Wells Fargo working to build outstanding teams and fuelling growth.

Out of Home (OOH) tech firm Mediabridge has launched in EMEA with the opening of its Paris office. Jean-Philippe Amos, who has over 20 years’ experience in international media, will head up the offering, joining the company as EMEA MD. Having held senior roles, including SVP Strategic Partnerships EMEA at WME |IMG and VP International Sales at Fox International Channels in Paris, Amos will focus on delivering Mediabridge’s next stage of international growth. He joins from CSE Network, was an advisor to start-ups and has worked for both media owners and agencies, including Hearst, CNN and ESPN. Launched in 2020 and designed for the digital age, Mediabridge is a technology-led independent agency reaching audiences through Out of Home (OoH) using proprietary technology. Having invested £5m in its tech over the last two years, Mediabridge provides clients with access to worldwide OOH inventory to deliver multi-market reach whilst retaining central control.  

Creative consultancy Fox + Hare has appointed Mark Smith as its first ever Managing Director, following a period of significant growth. Smith brings 28 years’ marketing industry experience to the role, with previous roles including Co-Founder and Managing Director at Table 19; Managing Partner at LIDA/M&C Saatchi; and Managing Director at SevenC3. Smith will focus on winning new business and developing the consultancy’s proposition, and will also play a pivotal role in Fox + Hare’s plans to expand into international markets, including the US and Europe. In line with the consultancy’s recent B Corp and EcoVadis accreditations, Smith is also tasked with helping its clients drive positive impact, as well as delivering against their commercial objectives. 

Behavioural planning agency, Total Media, has appointed Kieren Mills as Head of Broadcast, with responsibility for driving the agency’s broadcast output and helping clients navigate the transition from linear to a fully-digital marketplace. He takes up the role with over 20 years’ experience in the media industry, following successful terms at MEC, Carat and Mostly Media. An expert strategist, he has a proven track record for developing award-winning campaigns, and is charged with covering the broadcast output of the agency across TV, OOH, audio, and cinema. He will also lead the department’s growth plans, developing both the business and partnership development strategy.

Social, content and production agency, Clockwork UK, has appointed Joe Goulcher as Creative Director and Stefania Paolini as Strategy Director to take on senior roles on their Xbox business. In these newly-created roles, Goulcher and Paolini will work closely to create effective and impactful creative that works across multiple international markets. Both have a wealth of experience, with Goulcher having held creative roles at agencies such as Coolr, Saatchi & Saatchi and Rise at 7 as well as client-side roles including Moonpig and EE over the past twelve years. Paolini brings 15 years of strategy experience, including senior roles in the UK, Germany, and US at Laundry Service, Huckletree and Plum Guide.