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…

Wiggles promotes Kohli to CMO and Vartak to CFO
Indian pet care brand, Wiggles, has promoted Prashant Kohli to the position of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Pushkaraj Vartak to the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Kohli joined Wiggles as Vice President, Brand Strategy in 2022.  In his new role as CMO, he will lead the company’s overall marketing initiatives and drive consumer engagement. It is under his guidance that Wiggles underwent a rebranding and took on its ‘Lovemark’ identity. He brings over 13 years’  experience to Wiggles and has a sharp skill set spanning brand and customer experience, community building, integrated media communications and design thinking. Prior to Wiggles, Kohli served at Glitch, where he was a part of the leadership team. He has also helped brands including Apple, LinkedIn, HUL, Facebook, Netflix, and Uber to solve a variety of business challenges. 

Vartak joined Wiggles as Vice President, Accounts & Finance in 2022 and has been instrumental in driving financial performance. He will lead the financial strategy and oversee the financial operations of the company. He has over two decades’ experience in finance across several sectors. Prior to Wiggles, he was with Glitch media.

“We founded Wiggles with love, empathy and deep understanding,” said Wiggles Founder and CEO,  Anushka Iyer. “The last few years have been a testament to our commitment towards pets and animals. At this stage, we are looking at progressive, compassionate and result-oriented leaders to drive growth for the organization. Prashant and Pushkaraj have been key pillars over the last year for us, and I am confident that they will help chart the best course for the next growth phase for Wiggles. Their experience, passion and dedication towards both animals and people make them excellent leaders for our brand.” 

Beep makes three senior hires
Beep, which provides autonomous shared mobility solutions, has appointed Katrina Heineking as Executive Vice President, Operations; Marc Klein as Senior Vice President, Strategic Accounts & Smart Cities; and Alex Poirot as Vice President, Public Policy.

Heineking has been in the transit industry for more than three decades and brings a unique blend of career perspective and skills, having worked in transit systems in both the public and private sector. Prior to joining Beep, her most recent role was with Transdev North America, the continent’s largest private provider of multiple modes of transit, where she was responsible for helping to create and head Transdev’s autonomous vehicle division.

Klein has more than 20 years’ experience delivering cutting-edge mobility and technology solutions across the US. In 2018, as Vice President of Microtransit Government Partnerships, he launched the business-to-government unit for Ford Motor Company’s Chariot Transit, where he focused on improving accessibility, sustainability and mobility options in cities around the country. Klein was formerly Vice President of National Accounts and Airports at Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the largest provider of natural gas fuel for fleets in North America. In 2006, he co-founded The Vehicle Production Group, which manufactured the MV-1, the first factory-direct wheelchair accessible vehicle to meet or exceed the vehicle guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  

Poirot brings 13 years of experience in mobility policy, serving in roles within federal and state government and the private sector. He was most recently Corporate Affairs Director for Keolis North America, a global public transportation operator, where he engaged key governmental and community stakeholders to advance safe, clean and equitable mobility. Previously, he served as Senior Governmental Affairs Officer at the United States Department of Transportation under Secretary Elaine L. Chao, and as Acting Associate Administrator in the Office of Communications and Congressional Affairs for the Federal Transit Administration. From 2015 to 2019, Poirot served as Senior Policy Advisor to a senior member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee in the United States House of Representatives during the development, enactment and implementation of legislation including the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018.

“I’m delighted to welcome Katrina, Marc and Alex to our leadership team,” said Joe Moye, Chief Executive Officer for Beep. “As we continue to experience unprecedented growth and impact within our industry, these seasoned leaders will help us scale our operations, build close strategic relationships with our largest customers, and ensure we continue to work closely with state and federal government agencies on enabling the safe adoption and expansion of autonomous mobility solutions that help protect our environment, improve road safety and extend mobility to all.”

Noblett takes up the marketing reins for Pride in London
Pride in London, the LGBT+ festival, has appointed Tim Noblett as Director of Marketing. He takes over the pro bono position from Asad Shaykh, who will now be Group Strategy Director.

Noblett, who is also Head of Data & Insight for the integrated creative agency TMW Unlimited, will be responsible for managing the marketing activity for Pride in London. This includes campaigns to support Pride’s Got Talent and the Unity Awards, as well as delivering the main campaign for the event itself, which takes place on 1 July. Noblett will be working with media partners including Gaydio and The Independent to develop and deliver campaigns.

Last year’s Pride in London Parade, the 50-year anniversary of the original march, was labelled “the biggest and most inclusive event in history” after over 1.5m people attended. It was accompanied by the successful #AllOurPride campaign, crafted by an entirely LGBT+ creative team, which highlighted the links between the last five decades of activism with the contemporary achievements and struggles of the LGBT+ community.

Noblett said: “I’m excited to join the board of Pride in London and support the efforts of the team on delivering for London’s LGBTQ+ communities. As we see more attacks on the community, especially our trans siblings, the role of Pride takes on an increasing significance.”

Adam&EveDDB names Cramphorn and Pritchett as Joint Heads of Integrated Production
Adam&EveDDB has named Nikki Cramphorn and Sally Pritchett as Joint Heads of Integrated Production. The pair will be responsible for leading the agency’s production department across all creative media. Both Cramphorn and Pritchett have held senior roles in Adam&EveDDB’s production department for over five years, boasting multiple award-winning campaigns between them. They will replace Ben Sharpe, who has held the role since 2018 and is set to depart the agency as he moves home to Canada.

Pritchett, a longstanding freelance creative producer will move into a permanent role at the agency. She has over 25 years’ experience delivering creative campaigns across a wide variety of brands, including John Lewis & Partners, Marks & Spencer and Virgin Atlantic. Prior to working with Adam&EveDDB, she was Joint Head of TV at RKCR/Y&R and Head of Production at NineteenTwenty. She has led the production for the now world-famous John Lewis Christmas campaigns since 2018, including ‘The Boy & Piano’, ‘Unexpected Guest’ and most recently, ‘The Beginner’. 

Cramphorn has been a senior producer at Adam&EveDDB for over five years. Prior to joining the agency, she was Deputy Head of Television at Publicis. She has over 30 years’ experience leading production on global, integrated campaigns for brands including PlayStation, VW, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Lloyds and Virgin Media. Most recently she led production on an epic 3-minute rom-com ad for The National Lottery, which was named Campaign’s number-one Film Ad of 2022.

“Ben has been a key player in our success over the past five years,” said Adam&EveDDB Chief Creative Officer, Richard Brim. “I can’t thank him enough for the talent and dedication he’s brought to everything he’s touched during that time but I understand the lure of family beckons and wish him all the best for his next chapter. The thought of Sally and Nikki leading our immensely talented production department fills me with utter joy. There is literally no one better in the business to take us forward.” 

VMLY&R promotes Tom Moore to UK Head of Commerce
VMLY&R has promoted Tom Moore to the newly-created position of Head of Commerce UK. He was formerly Head of Retail. The new role is the UK agency’s next step in its connected brands agenda –helping clients accelerate growth through brand experience and customer experience with commerce at the heart.

Working across the full agency client portfolio, Moore’s task is to help brands unlock new growth opportunities through commerce by connecting creativity, strategy and digital. He will work alongside Executive Creative Director, Marco Bezerra, who joined the agency from Specsavers last August.

Moore joined the agency (formerly Geometry), in January 2017 as Head of Shopping. In recent years, he has led commerce transformation initiatives for brands including Evergreen, Viagra and Lycra, and award-winning activations including Boots ‘Bootiques’ which landed Silver at Cannes in 2021.

“Over the last few years, Tom has brought drive, ambition and talent to deliver growth for our clients and the agency,” said Michelle Whelan, Joint CEO, VMLY&R UK, and CEO, VMLY&R Commerce UK. “As a strategic leader, he brings broad connected experience across sectors and channels helping brands reimagine themselves in the context of Commerce. The new Tom and Marco partnership promises to electrify accelerated growth for our clients.”

Kirk to lead Strategy at EssenceMediacomUK
EssenceMediacom UK – part of GroupM’s newest and largest global agency network – has appointed Rich Kirk as Joint Chief Strategy Officer. He will work alongside current CSO, Geoff de Burca, to bolster the agency’s leadership team and deliver against its ambitious growth plans. 

Kirk joins from Zenith, bringing with him extensive experience in new business, strategy and the evolving digital space. He is a thought leader in the field of media planning, and brings a diverse set of skills, having worked in performance media, SEO and data science, as well as a stint at Amazon. He will own key client responsibilities and will play a vital role in new business development. He will report to UK CEO Kate Rowlinson and joins the agency early in May.  

This appointment follows the recent formation of EssenceMediacom UK which, alongside its sister agency EssenceMediacomX, is the largest regional network in the country. Both agencies combine performance, data, analytics, and creative technology with scaled multichannel audience planning and strategic media expertise to find new opportunities for brands and deliver breakthrough media solutions. 

Kirk said: “Media planning is my passion and I believe that it's a craft that has never been more valuable to advertisers than it is today. Getting to practise that craft at the biggest media agency in the UK, alongside brilliant clients and their iconic brands, is tremendously exciting.

“In a media landscape that is moving so fast, agencies have to embrace change and adapt quickly, no matter how successful they've been in the past – an attitude and ambition that matches my own. EssenceMediacom UK’s proposition is going to raise the bar for what advertisers can expect from a media agency and the growth that media can drive for their businesses. To be at the vanguard of that change is a real privilege.” 

Elvis boosts creative team with three hires
Creative agency, Elvis, has hired a raft of new senior creative talent from agencies Grey and Ogilvy following a record year for new business in 2022, which saw it win every pitches it took part in.

Multi award-winning Creative Director Alexandru Vasile joins Elvis from Grey, where he spent two years working on brands in the Coca Cola portfolio and on the global Tuborg account. He has 11 years’ advertising industry experience, previously holding positions at creative agency McCann Bucharest, and the WPP-owned GTB in London. Over the course of his career, he has picked up multiple awards, including Cannes Lions, Eurobest Awards, LIAs, Effies and D&AD Awards.

In his new role, he will lead the creative department and work to further build the quality of the agency’s output, with a focus on delivering award-winning and industry-defining creative work.  

The agency has also appointed creative team, Susie Nagel-Davies and Adam Ablo, who join from Ogilvy as Senior Creatives. At Ogilvy, they developed work for the global Dove and Hellman’s accounts.

Prior to joining Ogilvy in January 2022, Nagel-Davies was at The Leith Agency, working on Irn-Bru, German Doner Kebab and the Scottish Government, while Ablo was at VCCP, developing work for brands including Cadbury, J2O and Bensons For Beds. In their new positions at Elvis, Nagel-Davies and Ablo are tasked with creating game-changing, unexpected and unforgettable work for the agency’s clients.

“As Elvis continues to grow, following our 100 per cent pitch win rate in 2022, we are now focussing on hiring the industry’s best senior creative talent in order to ensure we’re delivering industry-defining, award-worthy creativity for our clients,” said Elvis Executive Creative Director, Neale Horrigan.

Fischli and Kivel take up senior roles at Criteo
Criteo has appointed Marc Fischli to the role of Executive Managing Director, EMEA, and Nicole Kivel as Managing Director, Northern Europe. Together, they will lead the company’s commercial realignment to better serve the needs of enterprise marketers and growth marketing businesses.

Fischli brings more than 20 years’ retail and CPG experience, having recently served as Chief Client Officer at Dunnhumby, the customer data science company, where he was responsible for the company’s global commercial and client operations teams. Prior to this, he spent over five years at Diageo, a global leader in premium drinks, where he was General Manager of France and Poland. At Criteo, Fischli reports into Chief Revenue Officer, Brian Gleason, and is responsible for driving revenue across the company’s enterprise and growth client segments for EMEA.

Kivel is re-joining Criteo, having previously worked on the activation side of the business in Northern Europe before leaving in 2021 to join BazaarVoice, where she looked after some of the largest retailer relationships across Europe, including Sainsbury’s, Asda, MediaMarkt and Leclerc. Kivel was an early evangeliser of the retail media space, having launched HookLogic UK, which was later acquired by Criteo. Over 10 years, her expertise has helped to advise the world’s leading brands and agencies as they strengthen and expand their retail media strategy across EMEA.

As Managing Director Enterprise, Northern Europe at Criteo, Kivel oversees the commercial organisation for large enterprise clients across the key northern European region, inclusive of UK, Benelux and Nordics. Her initial focus will be on bringing Criteo's suite of products together to maximise digital strategy and monetisation programs among the region's biggest retailers and brands.

She said: “It’s thrilling to have the opportunity to play another part in Criteo’s story. My experience and passion have always been helping retailers realise the untapped value of their customer data and helping them to maximise the full power of their tech stack. Criteo occupies such a unique position in the market to help retailers do this with its expertise in both retail media and performance marketing. By bringing these together, the Commerce Media Platform holds unrivalled potential to reshape what marketers, media owners and consumers have come to expect from advertising.”  

Merkle creates three new leadership roles
Customer experience management company, Merkle, has created three new leadership roles to support its clients in delivering seamless customer experience across sales, service, marketing, and commerce.

Clare Morgan has been promoted to Chief Client Officer and will have full oversight of all existing clients across Merkle UK. Having led the UK client services team across Data and Martech for the past six years, she will now also be responsible for ensuring Merkle deliver service excellence across Experience & Commerce, Analytics, B2B, and consulting, building client relationships through trust, value, and innovation.

Mark Jones has been promoted to Chief Growth Officer, from VP, Client Services. In his new role, Jones’s focus will be to drive growth for Merkle CXM UK&I, whilst focusing on the opportunities from wider Dentsu integration. Jones has spent the last seven years at Merkle, leading senior client stakeholder relationships and P&Ls across large regional and global brands, consistently ensuring Merkle solutions and professional services have been focused on delivering client business value-based outcomes.

Stephen Derbyshire will move into the role of Chief Solutions Officer, responsible for solution design and implementation of integrated solutions across Merkle. Derbyshirs has played an instrumental part in winning and delivering several complex integrated solutions in recent years, helping to develop Merkle’s managed services. He will also support the wider growth team with larger multi-year deals and building retained revenues.

“I am delighted to promote such fantastic existing talent to support our clients to deliver their customer experience transformations,” said Anne Stagg, Merkle’s UK CEO. “As we embark on our journey to further integrate Merkle as part of the wider Dentsu business, we need people who can form matrix teams across Creative, CXM and Media, bringing together one client team regardless of where they sit within the Dentsu family.” 

Kaushik to head up Strategy at Croud
Digital agency, Croud, has hired Avinash Kaushik as global Chief Strategy Officer. Over the course of a 16-year career at Google, Kaushik built a strategic consulting practice for Google's largest customers. He was also

part of the team that launched Google Analytics. Most recently, he led Global Strategic Analytics for one of the largest global multichannel advertisers, covering brand, performance, and influencer marketing across digital and offline channels.

Kaushik’s role will span strategy, product, and data, as well as mergers and acquisitions, and will allow him to influence the company on a global scale.

He said: “My goal is simple: help one of the world's best performance marketing agencies become a leading full-service marketing partner, powered by next-generation data and analytics capabilities. Since its founding in 2011, Croud has been focused on delivering transformative results for its clients through disruptive innovation as applied to process, tools and business models. The opportunity to work hand-in-hand with Luke [Smith, Crowd CEO] and our global teams to deliver a step change in Croud's impact, while leading the charge for the entire industry, is thrilling to say the least.”

As the author of two best-selling books, Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, as well as a weekly newsletter with 55,000 subscribers, Kaushik has sought to simplify the complexity which often defines the industry, ensuring that marketing initiatives can deliver at scale. His reputation as someone who consistently pushes the boundaries of what's possible, across creative, experimentation, engagement, and automation, has furthered his role as a marketing evangelist on a mission to make data more accessible.

Kaushik has given in excess of $1m over the years to charities supporting civil rights, refugees and early childhood education in the US  and abroad, donating the full revenue from his premium newsletter subscriptions and books.

“To put it simply, Avinash is a visionary in the marketing space,” said Luke Smith, Croud’s Founder and CEO. “Many are going into 2023 with uncertainty, but we go in with absolute conviction and ambition for what we can achieve for our clients. Avinash has already shown how he'll bolster that, helping advance Croud's capabilities of course, but most importantly, helping our clients achieve their goals over the next few years.”

LoopMe hires two
LoopMe has announced two new hires on the heels of significant revenue growth. Lisa Coffery joins the firm as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Andy Sophocli as AVP Partnerships EMEA. The company closed out 2022 with $150m in revenue, reporting 55 per cent global growth year-on-year and 27 per cent growth year-on-year in the APAC region alone.

Coffey joins LoopMe from Amazon, where she most recently held the position of Head of Strategy and Business Development, spearheading sales and account organisations, establishing multi-year operating plans, and developing and implementing revenue-generating strategies. Reporting to the CEO, Coffey will oversee revenue in North America, with direct reports over mid-market, agency partnerships and regional-based holding company business, as well as international growth. She has extensive experience working with agency holding companies to drive innovation in the media and tech space.

Sophocli has over 20 years of sales, trading, tech, and management experience. He previously worked at Azerion as UK Commercial Director, and prior to that, held positions at Time Inc. UK, Collective Europe, and TI Media. In his new role, Sophocli will focus on deepening LoopMe’s existing agency partnerships across EMEA, as well as establishing relationships with new agency groups and independents.

“We’re thrilled to add Lisa to our executive leadership team as we continue our rapid growth. Her vast experience will support us as we carve out a sizable share in the global digital advertising market, helping clients drive both measurable uplift in brand deliverables and more effective targeting across online and offline marketing goals,” said LoopMe CEO and Co-founder, Stephen Upstone. “We’re also very pleased to have Andy on board as we continue to deliver outstanding customer service to our strong agency and client relationships in EMEA. During this time of economic instability, we’re very grateful to be able to keep hiring and growing in the areas we’re passionate about, including empowering brands to leverage new opportunities within in-app environments as our digital and physical worlds proceed to merge.” 

LoopMe has also expanded its UK operations, with a new Manchester office, and has appointed Anna-Marie Whiteside as Regional Sales Director for the North of England and Scotland. In addition, Alberico De Nardis joins the APAC team as Head of South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand alongside Bernard Fung as Head of North APAC to spearhead expansion in the region.

Windegaard to head up Programmatic sales at Ozone
Digital advertising platform, Ozone, has appointed Stephen Windegaard to the newly-created position of Programmatic Sales Lead. Windegaard will be responsible for building and nurturing Ozone’s relationships with the programmatic operations and trading desks of UK agencies and advertisers.

He joins Ozone with a wealth of programmatic experience gained in premium publishing. During a near-five-year stint at Future, he held the role of Commercial Group Head – Programmatic for EMEA and LATAM across the company’s portfolio of tech, gaming, music, film, football, home, creative, cycling and B2B titles. Prior to this, he spent a decade at Haymarket Media, working across titles including FourFourTwo, Stuff, What Hi-Fi?, Autocar and WhatCar?

In this new role, Windegaard will champion the sell of Ozone’s growing programmatic offering – across deals (PMPs) and marketplace connections – that complement Ozone’s managed service capability, and run across the premium publisher portfolio 

“We’re very excited to be welcoming Stephen on board to help deepen our relationships with our customers’ programmatic teams,” said Ozone Chief Revenue Officer, Craig Tuck. This an exciting and growing area for our business, and one that reinforces our ability to allow our clients to engage with us in whatever way works best for them. Stephen will be a huge asset to the wider commercial team, and I can’t wait for him to start.”

BillionDollarBoy CEO East moves West
Influencer agency, Billion Dollar Boy, has announced that Ed East, Global CEO and Co-founder, has transferred from the agency’s UK headquarters in London to its office in New York. East joins Permele Doyle, President and Co-founder, to support with scaling up the existing US business, including developing the agency’s operational structures and ways of working, its marketing and client relationships. East also brings specialist knowledge of a wide variety of sectors, including technology, gaming, and food & drink.

The agency has also appointed Alex Williamson to the role of Global Creative Director. Williamson will be responsible for leading the agency's creative output and innovation in both European and US markets, as well as continuing to build its creative and design teams in both regions. 

Williamson brings more than 12 years’ experience in the creative industry to the role, including senior roles at Ogilvy and The Audience, where he worked across international creative briefs. Since his recruitment to Billion Dollar Boy as Creative Director in August 2021, Williamson has doubled the size of the creative department, with diversity at its heart, including hires from theatre, film production, fashion and creative agency backgrounds. He has also overseen the launch of innovative creator-led campaigns, including ‘The Candy Cave’ by Candy Crush; ‘The Quest for Extra Fresh’ by Heineken Silver; and a re-imagining of Martini’s iconic early 20th century posters.

The leadership changes will help Billion Dollar Boy to build upon the 100% year-on-year growth in the agency’s US revenue, which helped the agency to generate $40m revenue last year and led to a 50 per cent growth in staff.

As part of its growth plan, Billion Dollar Boy will aim to double the size of its US operations year-on-year until 2025, including growing its physical presence in New Orleans and New York and exploring new hires across other major US cities.

“I firmly believe that the creator economy is the future of marketing, and New York is the mecca for both exceptional and diverse creator talent and brands who are willing to try bigger and bolder influencer campaigns than ever before,” said East. “I look forward to settling in and further growing our agency operations stateside, and keeping Billion Dollar Boy at the forefront of industry innovation and creativity.”

Barfuss to CMO at Ogury
Ad tech firm, Ogury, has appointed Emily Barfuss as Chief Marketing Officer. Barfuss has extensive experience building global marketing and communications organisations and brands of $300m+ in revenue, both public and private. She started her career at entertainment giant CBS Corporation, before joining global advertising marketplace Index Exchange. There, she became Executive Vice President of Marketing & Communications, overhauling the Index Exchange brand and redefining the firm’s strategy across client initiatives and partner relations. Most recently, she was Chief Marketing Officer at dynamic CTV and video-first platform, Tremor International, where she led the development and execution of the company’s global marketing strategy.

At Ogury, she will spearhead and execute the company’s strategic vision, overseeing and centralising the global brand, field, product marketing, and communications teams. She will report to Geoffroy Martin, CEO at Ogury, and be part of the company’s executive committee. 

“I’m thrilled to join Ogury’s leadership team and play a part in executing the company’s unique vision for the future of the advertising industry,” said Barfuss. “Our future-proof technology is unprecedented, and personified advertising will become pivotal as our industry transitions to a cookieless and IDless environment. Also, Ogury’s values, and the way they foster a collaborative and transparent culture among employees, is definitely something I’m proud to be a part of.”

Other moves:
Cedara, the carbon intelligence platform, has appointed Eric Shih as Chief Operating Officer. Shih will lead the company’s global expansion and manage its growing commercial and operations teams. With over 20 years’ experience in media, advertising and technology, Shih is a proven leader who has scaled businesses globally at startups (including three separate exits) as well as digital teams in large corporations. Most recently as Chief Growth Officer at Lasso, Shih launched its publisher enterprise software business and was responsible for the growth of its non-pharma healthcare sales initiatives. From 2014 to 2021, Shih served as Chief Supply Officer at Teads, where he led global publisher acquisition and strategic partnerships. Shih previously held senior positions at a number of media companies including Scripps Networks (now Discovery Communications), A&E Networks, and Fuse.

Digital experience platform (DXP) provider, Optimizely, has named digital marketing veterans Shafqat Islam and Sebastiaan de Jong as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Sales Officer, respectively.  Islam’s dedication to optimising the marketing experience dates back to his time as Co-founder and CEO of enterprise content marketing firm Welcome (formerly known as NewsCred), from 2007 to 2021. He joined the Optimizely team as General Manager when Optimizely acquired Welcome in 2021. De Jong previously served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the EMEA and APAC regions and specializes in scaling, growth strategy, and experimentation. He joined Optimizely in 2018 to grow the EMEA region. After Optimizely was acquired by Episerver in 2020, de Jong built a strong team and drove consistent growth, going on to take on the expanded responsibility of the SE Asia and ANZ regions. 

Voice assistant ad tech firm, Say It Now, has appointed Zoe Bruton as its new Sales Director. She brings vast knowledge and expertise to Say It Now, as well as deep experience in campaigns that combine creativity, data analysis and conversational technology. She joins Say It Now from A Million Ads, where she led global audio campaigns and long-term strategic planning for international agencies including Publicis Group, IPG and Omnicom. She will play an integral role in driving Say It Now’s growth as the company expands into Actionable TV Ads – on-screen ads that encourage the viewer to engage with their voice assistant after viewing a TV ad to complete a brand’s advertising campaign goal.

Global business transformation agency, Valtech, has appointment Scott Patton to the role of Executive Director, Operations in the UK. Having grown its UK client base by 48 per cent in the last year – working with household brands and organisations such as easyJet, Ocado, Dominos Pizza, National Trust, and Department of Transport – Valtech has hired Patton during a time of significant growth. Based in the London office, Patton will work alongside Valtech’s executive team to define and execute its operational and delivery strategies that will enable the agency to continue accelerating innovative and transformative experiences with its UK clients and partners. He joins Valtech from Cognizant, where he was Head of Transformation, Delivery and Operations (Digital Experience). He has previously worked at Wunderman Thompson, Nissan Motor Corporation, and Digitas APAC, directing transformation across delivery and operations at both a regional and global level.

Mobile and PC casual game developer and publisher, GameHouse, has appointed product management and insights expert, Emmi Kuusikko, as Head of Product Strategy, Insights and Growth. Kuusikko joins GameHouse with more than two decades’ experience in global product management and marketing, business development and executive board roles, in gaming, frontier technologies and mobile applications. She will be based out of Helsinki, providing a local GameHouse presence in this mobile gaming stronghold. Kuusikko’s expertise in user-centered design, and operation of free-to-play (f2p) games has shaped business and product strategies in the games industry at studios including Microsoft's Lionhead Studios, Next Games, Digital Chocolate and Habbo Hotel. In her previous roles, she created and led teams to drive acquisition, engagement, retention and monetization on leading f2p titles on mobile, PC and console. 

Social media agency, The Wild, owned by Jungle Creations, has appointed of Sarah Baumann as its Managing Director. She will drive The Wild’s ambitious plans for growth, following the sale of a majority stake to private equity firm Livingbridge in late 2021. She joins The Wild with a wealth of experience working on some of the world’s biggest brands, and an impressive record for delivering phenomenal business results. She latterly worked at VaynerMedia as the Managing Director across EMEA, where her clients included TikTok, Kraft Heinz, Durex, WeWork and the Natwest Group. She also previously worked at Leo Burnett Group for nearly 17 years, where she held the role of Deputy CEO. At The Wild. She will oversee the evolution of the organisation from a new-entrant agency to the agency of choice as it begins extended partnerships with brands such as Major League Baseball, Pukka Pies and Superdrug. The Wild is set to enhance its offering to clients throughout this year, building a new suite of products encompassing creator and influence to AI and performance.

Insurance marketing operating system, Kissterra, has appointed Udi Ziv as Chief Executive Officer. Ziv’s appointment empowers Kissterra to expand its rapid growth in the insurance sector and widen into new markets. Udi Ziv joins from Earnix, a real-time, AI-driven enterprise pricing and rating engine for insurance and banking, where, as CEO, he successfully scaled up the company and expanded its reach globally. Under his leadership, Ziv drove the company’s latest funding round that established Earnix’s unicorn status and executed the company’s first-ever acquisition. Prior to Earnix, Ziv served as CEO of Pontis, leading its customer engagement platform which Amdocs later acquired. The Kissterra marketing operating system harnesses advanced AI to provide a seamless end-to-end solution for insurance companies’ marketing and distribution needs.

Performance marketing agency, SINE Digital, has appointed Charlotte Twining as Managing Director of The 5th Wall, its new data-led strategic marketing consultancy. She has more than 15 years’ industry experience, including five years as Head of Marketing for Sonia Friedman Productions and comes most recently from a role with international theatre producers Global Creatures, as the Marketing Director for Moulin Rouge! The Musical. SINE has also launched Farlo, a data-driven web design and web development company that will be led by Ben Campbell as Managing Director. He has 15 years’ experience designing, building, and consulting on leading ticketing and live events websites

Ad tech firm, Mirriad, has hired Vince Amalfi as VP Sales & Brand Partnerships. Amalfi brings decades of deep sales experience across television, music, cinema, and digital media, structuring meaningful partnerships with many of the world’s largest brands. He will drive new business and client growth for Mirriad’s in-content advertising offering across media channels. Most recently, he was Vice President, National Sales at Intersection Co., an innovative Out-Of-Home smart cities advertising technology company. Previously, Amalfi served as VP National Advertising Sales, West Coast at Screenvision Media, a premier cinema, video, and media organization. He has also held sales leadership roles at Music Choice, a multi-platform video and music network, Dennis Publishing, Comcast, and Time Inc.

GrowthOps Asia has appointed Devinder Banga as its Regional Head of Data and Analytics. Banga’s appointment follows that of Adzam Bahrin as Regional Creative Director and Shakira Pathmarajah as Talent Acquisition Head. In his role, Banga will lead the scaling of the analytics team by introducing new solutions for advanced analytics, personalisation and forecasting, along with developing relationships with technology and data partners, working on GrowthOps Asia’s regional clients, including companies from financial services, automotive, airline and consumer clients. He brings to the role over 14 years of multimarket experience in Japan, India, and Singapore, leading analytics departments. Prior to joining GrowthOps, he held leadership positions at GroupM India, Wunderman Thompson Japan, Weber Shandwick and Mirum Agency in Singapore. 

Machine learning firm, Moloco, has appointedTal Shaked as its first Chief Machine Learning (ML) Fellow. Shaked, who brings nearly two decades of experience building ML solutions for companies like Google and Snowflake, will spearhead ML innovation at Moloco and advise on ML investments. The appointment reunites Shaked with Moloco CEO Ikkjin Ahn. In 2009 Ahn was at YouTube and Shaked was at Google. While working on a ranking problem at YouTube, Ahn’s small team was the first to successfully and profitably apply Sibyl, a machine learning platform co-founded by Shaked at Google in 2007. This put Sibyl on a path to become the most widely deployed ML system at Google by 2015. Shaked went on to build teams that focused on applied research, integrating ML capabilities across hundreds of product applications, and the development of some of Google’s most popular ML platforms including TensorFlow Extended (TFX). Shaked later led teams in Google Ads that focused on maximising advertiser value through targeting, bidding, and creative automation.

Ad tech firm, Adludio, has hired Laura Holmes as Head of Sales UK. She will be responsible for the expansion of UK sales and revenue, developing new partnerships and business opportunities, as well as strengthening Adludio’s existing customer relationships.

With over a decade of experience in digital media, Holmes is an expert in leading teams in the delivery of outstanding success for clients, and has worked for leading media groups such as Time Out, The Social Element and Allure Media. She joins Adludio from Reach Plc, where she was Group Head and managed the publishing giant’s agency sales activity.

Sonic branding agency, DLMDD, has hired Rowan Woollcombe as its Business Development Manager. He will focus on inspiring new client partnerships for brands looking to develop their identities in sound, and will be responsible for driving business growth across new and existing sectors, building meaningful partnerships with both agencies and brands, and championing DLMDD’s sonic branding products across the world. Woollcombe joins DLMDD from lead-generation company, Future Factory, where he spent two years generating new business for a variety of agencies across numerous disciplines.

Creative agency, 20ten, has appointed Richard Hedges as Business Director for Entertainment. The newly-created role will see Hedges take on responsibility for continuing to strengthen and expand the agency’s strategic expertise across entertainment, with a particular focus on the film & TV, gaming and music sectors. Hedges brings 23 years’ experience to the new role, having previously worked with entertainment brands including Xbox, Warner Brothers, Sony PlayStation, EA Sports, Netflix and Channel 4. Prior to joining 20ten, Hedges spent 12 years at AKQA, latterly as Client Partner, and has also held roles including Head of Client Services at Collective London, Business Director at Zone Digital and Client Services Director at creative production studio the Outfit UK.