London-based digital agency Ais has just announced the promotion of Liz Barnsdale to the role of the agency's managing director. She previously served as client services director at the agency. On the management board, Barnsdale will join executive strategy director Sarah Stratford and executive creative director Geoff Gower. As well as taking responsibility for the agency's accounts, she'll be responsible for managing the agency through it's next stage of growth, as it builds its reputation within Havas Media.
On the management board, Barnsdale will join executive strategy director Sarah Stratford and executive creative director Geoff Gower
Stratford is pleased to bring Barnsdale onto the board, and feels that it's the “Next natural step” in the agency's ongoing growth. She says that Barnsdale's appointment is “Simply a reflection of the extraordinary commitment she has shown, and the critical tole she has played in building the business.” She believes that Barnsdale, who began her career in advertising at Bowden Smyth & Partners, before moving on to Tequila TBWA and finally joining Ais in 2010, is “Key to the ongoing success of Ais London.”
The Ais London team. Liz Barnsdale pictured far-left
Ais relocated earlier this year into the 'Havas Village' at St martin's Lane in Covent Garden, an office which hosts numerous Havas Worldwide agencies, including mobile specialists Mobext, data analytics consultancy DBi, social media firm Socialyse and customer experience agency Web Narrative. To further catalyse the cooperation between Ais and Havas Media (who share a number of clients, including National Express and Pernod Richard) at the new co-location, a single, centralised creative production unit of more than 30 people is planned to be launched later this year.
Ais relocated earlier this year into the 'Havas Village' at St martin's Lane in Covent Garden, an office which hosts numerous Havas Worldwide agencies
At the time, Stratford said they were “Delighted” to be worked more closely with their media cousins and believed the move would allow further opportunities to grow their business and creative reputation, on the back of some serious creative wins in 2013. These wins include being named Digital Agency of the Year for 1012/13 by BIMA and a number of impressive new clients. Havas Media Group UK chairman Dominique Delport said that he believed that by bringing Ais into “The heart of Havas Media Group,” they would be uniquely positioned to offer their clients a seamless end-to-end service. Whether the 'all under one roof' approach has yet to truly pay off is open to debate, but this latest promotion at least shows they are looking to the future.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He had a delightful panini in covent garden once. Just putting that out there.
