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Top 10 Hires of the Week

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VML

VML has promoted God-is Rivera to the newly created position of Director of Inclusion and Cultural Resonance. Rivera has been a key part of the evolution of VML’s Inclusion & Diversity committee. Being a black woman in the advertising industry has prompted Rivera to pursue her passion of highlighting the imperative need for greater diversity within the industry. In 2016, she joined VML’s social media practice and has since pushed for a wide range of perspectives both within the work and across the agency. Rivera will focus on enriching an atmosphere of inclusion at VML, from internal communication and education efforts to building partnerships in the communities our offices serve. She will also continue to stay connected to client work. According to VML, as a member of the HR team, Rivera will focus on “expanding the foundation and spirit of inclusivity” in their internal culture and offices “so employees feel safe, comfortable and open to learning about, considering and supporting diverse perspectives.” She will also expand hiring practices to increase diverse candidates, and shape practices to ensure inclusion. Rivera recently led 'Woke, Lit & Ready', a presentation that explores the immense influence Black Twitter has had on American culture, for several audiences including the Social Media and Diversity Steering committees of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s). Rivera will report to Ronnie Felder, managing director of human resources.

 

J. Walter Thompson

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J. Walter Thompson Sydney has announced the promotion of its general manager Paul Everson to Managing Director, tasked in his new role with overseeing the agency's growing business across Sydney and Perth, and 20+ client roster. A multi award-winning advertising professional with a career spanning almost two decades, Everson has risen to become one of Australia's pre-eminent and most awarded agency business leads, having picked up multiple Cannes Lions and Effectiveness awards for his work. He first joined the agency in February 2014 as client services director, and was appointed general manager early last year. Prior to joining J. Walter Thompson, he worked at a range of top-tier agencies both in Australia and the UK. Everson replaces Jenny Willits as managing director, following her decision to accept a new CEO role outside of the advertising industry. With J. Walter Thompson since early 2012, Willits has led the agency and its 70-plus staff as MD, and previously GM, for more than three years.

 

Edelman

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Edelman, a leading global communications marketing firm, has announced the appointment of Geeta Ramachanran as Business Director, Brand, in Indonesia. Geeta’s appointment is part of Edelman’s move to strengthen its brand team, following the firm’s streamlined offering into two practices; Brand and Reputation. Geeta reports to Bobby Arthawan, Head of Brands in Indonesia. In this role, Geeta will take on the responsibility to strengthen relationships with existing clients as well as growing the practice’s roster of Edelman’s global clients operating in Indonesia, bringing together Edelman’s various in-house expertise to deliver quality works for cross-industry accounts. Geeta’s experience includes key positions in FOX Communications, Essence-Burson Communications, and Fleishman-Hillard, and as Account Director at Text100. Prior to Edelman Indonesia, Geeta was Senior Consultant at Samhoud Sdn Bhd.

 

Framestore

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Framestore has announced the promotion of Helen Hughes to the role of Head of Advertising, London. Helen has been an integral part of Framestore’s Production department since 2010, leading a growing team of producers across Framestore’s core VFX artistry. Helen’s passion and commitment to the craft of well-executed, high-quality advertising have seen her amass an impressive roster of clients, turning out major campaigns as well as a string of iconic James Bond title sequences. The creation of the Head of Advertising role speaks to Framestore’s heritage in crafting the finest commercial work, in tandem with its esteemed Film division, a new Television team and a wealth of digital content spanning dark rides, mixed realities and experiential installations. Helen continues to report to Helen Stanley, Managing Director, and Lottie Cooper, Deputy Managing Director, as part of the global management team overseeing the outputs of Framestore’s expanding Advertising and Content divisions. Helen Hughes is supported in her new role by the appointment of Jordi Bares and Ben Cronin as Creative Directors in Advertising. Jordi joined the company from Glassworks in May 2017, bringing with him a vibrant heritage in VFX and architecture, and a portfolio of groundbreaking commercial hits. Ben Cronin joins the Advertising leadership team from within Framestore, having risen the ranks from junior to VFX Supervisor during his tenure at the company. His wealth of experience leading and mentoring large VFX teams on headline projects for the likes of Sky, Sainsbury’s and Pepsi, will carry forth into his new role.

 

Ogilvy & Mather

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Ogilvy & Mather Asia has appointed Benoit Wiesser as its new Asia Chief Strategy Officer. His appointment takes place as Ogilvy accelerates its transformation agenda globally and in the Asia region. Core to Benoit's brief will be the continued innovation and integration of Ogilvy’s breadth of strategic capabilities as a market-leading, modern marketing offer. Wiesser succeeds Paul Matheson, who has relocated to Oslo, Norway, and will remain with Ogilvy in a Global Planning capacity, including working with the Asia team.

 

R/GA

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R/GA has officially appointed Omur Kula as the new Managing Director for its Istanbul office, as part of a strategic restructure of its EMEA operations in the region. A proven agency leader in the region, having held the position of Managing Director at Tribal Worldwide Istanbul prior to joining R/GA, Omur will be responsible for R/GA’s long-term vision and strategy in the region, as well as managing all operations and client relationships for R/GA’s Istanbul office. The decision to appoint Omur as MD is part of a strategic commitment by R/GA to invest long-term in the region and to further establish its local strategic and design capabilities. Omur joined R/GA in January and officially succeeds Sertan Eratay, who after over two highly successful years establishing and leading the Istanbul office as Managing Director, is leaving to pursue new opportunities outside of R/GA. Omur will report into Matt Lodder, EVP Managing Director R/GA EMEA. Omur has a deep background in product and service design, both agency and client side, and will be leading a strategic recruitment drive to establish local strategic and creative capabilities. R/GA has established a truly integrated team structure across EMEA, involving its offices in London, Bucharest, Berlin and Istanbul – and Omur will be working in collaboration with these offices to provide global perspective with local insights and talents. An industry expert with over 15 years’ experience, Omur has worked closely with clients in the region to help innovate work that spans product design, brand strategy, marketing and communications.

 

Deloitte Digital

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Havas executive creative director Andy Sandoz has been named as the first Chief Creative Officer of Deloitte Digital, which also announced its acquisition of creative agency Acne yesterday (17 August). The news proves the consultancy shows no sign of stopping in its bid to take on the creative marketing scene's traditional networks and agencies, having added Market Gravity to its portfolio just two months ago. It snapped up the San Franciscan Heat earlier this year. Sandoz jumps ship from Havas, where he has held the executive creative director title since 2016. He will be based at Deloitte Digital's studio in Clerkenwell, London. Sandoz will be tasked with leading Deloitte Digital’s full range of creative services for clients in the UK, which includes overseeing the work of new acquisition Acne.

 

agenda21 Digital

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Freddie Turner, former head of digital investment at Maxus, has been appointed as Head of Media and Operations at agenda21 Digital. Driving digital excellence for their clients, continuing the agency’s streamlined approach whilst working with the latest technology, Freddie will play a key role in shaping agenda21 Digital’s offering as it continues its rapid expansion. Freddie is based in London along slide agenda21’s team of 70 digital experts at their Soho office. Working with clients such as Air New Zealand, Vodafone, MacMillan Cancer Support and The AA, leveraging the power of bought media across paid search, social and all forms of programmatic display. agenda21 Digital are specialists in enhancing marketing performance through award-winning SEO across technical, content and distribution, deploying analytics and data as well as interpretive modelling. Since their launch in 2005, agenda21 Digital have helped brands in the UK and across Europe become “engineered for digital’’ through analytics-driven digital media planning and buying across all connected devices.

 

DDB New York

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DDB New York has announced the appointment of two new executives, bolstering its social and content talent lineup. Effective immediately, Hannah Meium (left) joins the agency as Director of Content, while Rocky Probst (right) joins as Senior Social Media Strategist. Both executives will report to Reema Mitra, Group Director of Digital Strategy, who joined DDB New York in March, and will work on clients such as State Farm, Unilever and Cotton. Meium joins DDB New York from Mashable where she spent two years. In her role as Director of Branded Content, Hannah oversaw the creative, multi-platform work Mashable produced for all brand partners, including Netflix, Ford, Qualcomm, Wells Fargo, American Family Insurance, PepsiCo, Hilton Doubletree, McDonald’s and Kia. A Minnestoa native, Meium cut her teeth creating content for Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day before joining the team at Madison Square Garden where she spent six years creating content for the Rockettes and live productions, including the New York Emmy-award winning series, Rockettes Summer Intensive. During her time at Madison Square Garden, Meium was responsible for leading content integrations with The Colbert Report, Project Runway, NBC’s America’s Got Talent and theTODAY Show and helped grow the Rockettes’ social community from 3,000 to 1.4 million. Also adding to the ever-strengthening social team, DDB New York welcomes Probst who brings five years’ experience in social media marketing under her belt. Probst joins from Huge where she was the social lead for Federal Student Aid, Eli Lilly and National Highway Traffic Safety Association. At DDB New York, she will be responsible for collaborating with project teams to develop and implement an appropriate strategy to social, optimise content and campaigns and maintain healthy, participative communities.

 

Keko

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Keko London has hired Karmarama's Paul Zeidler as its new top creative after parting ways with Piggy Lines. Zeidler, who reports to managing partner Ben Whattam, will work across all the agency’s clients, including Bentley’s global advertising account. Keko recently defended the Bentley business after repitching against MullenLowe London and Y&R London. At Karmarama, Zeidler is credited with an instrumental role in winning and creating campaigns for Sony, Porsche and Grant’s, as well as working on award-winning work for Honda. He worked as a creative director at the agency for five years and previously spent six years at relationship marketing agency HS&P and then two years at Crayon, its sister digital shop, also as creative director. Lines joined Keko in 2014 as creative partner but left the agency earlier this year to pursue other opportunities. He was formerly global creative director for Spark44, the global joint venture agency for Jaguar in which Jaguar Land Rover has a 50% stake.

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