Former Leo Burnett strategy boss takes global Smirnoff planning job under Matt Bruhn
Atkinson
Former Leo Burnett Sydney head of planning Luke Atkinson has made the move to New York, taking a new role heading up consumer and cultural planning for Smirnoff under former Matt Bruhn.
Atkinson, who left the agency in May to get married and was replaced by former DDB strategy head Russ Mitchinson, has taken the new role under Bruhn, who moved to New York last year as global brand director for the vodka. Bruhn had previously worked with Atkinson in his role as head of marketing for Diageo Australia, a client of Leo Burnett.
Meanwhile, AnalogFolk Sydney has appointed former Leo Burnett Sydney senior planner Mathieu Dauner as strategy director. Dauner led strategy for Bundaberg Rum, Bullet Bourbon, Be Natural, WWF and Unibet during his nearly three years with Leo Burnett.
Dauner’s appointment with AnalogFolk follows on from the agency appointing former M&C Saatchi creative technologist James Bush as creative technology director, as it looks to expand its team.
In a statement Dauner said: “It’s not easy being a client in today’s marketplace. Consumers have more choice, less time and greater expectations of brands. AnalogFolk’s approach to brand building, innovation and technology felt like the best opportunity to help clients win in this complicated new world.”
Dauner will be joined in the strategy team by Tim Hill, senior social strategist and Tom Walter as strategist.
Hill currently tutors at ADMA’s social media short courses and has worked for BMF and Reading Room in the past. He also runs his own startup Social Status, a competitive monitoring tool for brands across Facebook.
Walter joins from shopper marketing agency The Station where he was a planner across Diageo, Campbell-Arnotts and Nestle.
AnalogFolk managing director Matt Robinson said: “More and more, our clients are relying on us to deliver strategy across a broader remit within their business – whether that’s brand or comms strategy, loyalty & CRM, social strategy or at the pointy end of conversion. We need modern strategic brains who can break out of the silos agencies tend to play-in – and Mathieu and his new team bring that in spades.”
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Luke is a top class planner and a great guy
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Great news Luke, really happy for you.
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We are delighted to have Luke join Diageo and the Smirnoff global team.
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