Initiative strengthens leadership team servicing IAG
Initiative has made two key appointments to strengthen its relationship with a leading client.
To better service IAG — which Initiative has been the media agency of record for since 2021 — the agency has appointed Luke Carmichael as managing partner, and has promoted Elle Galipienzo to group business director, effective immediately.
Carmichael joins from Dentsu’s Carat, where he was head of client service. Prior to that, he was head of advertising partnerships at Samsung Ads. He also previously spent ten years at Mindshare, and did a three-year stint at Google as an agency lead.
(L-R): Luke Carmichael, Elle Galipienzo
As managing partner for the IAG account — which encompasses the entire brand portfolio including NRMA, CGU, and WFI — he will lead the team, aiming to drive commercial benefit and opportunity.
“IAG is an iconic Australian organisation with bold ambitions and our focus will be to deliver connected, data-driven strategies that drive meaningful commercial outcomes, while further elevating Initiative’s reputation as a partner of impact”, Carmichael said.
Galipienzo has been with Initiative for more than eight years, and will now take on senior client service responsibilities for IAG. She has cross-functional experience spanning investment, comms planning, and client leadership across brands including ING, Officeworks and Woolworths Insurance.
Initiative’s CEO, Jo McAlister, said the appointments will help IAG achieve its “ambitious transformation agenda”.
“Our long-standing and ongoing partnership with IAG has delivered exceptional, results-driven work, from the acclaimed Bruce Highway Upgrade campaign to the launch of ‘A Help Company’ [for NRMA] during the Paris Olympics,” she said in a release.
“These campaigns haven’t just built brand awareness they have resulted in real-world behavioural change across communities, and having Elle and Luke at the helm, will add new perspectives and skillsets to the account.”
It comes as IAG’s chief customer and marketing officer, Michelle Klein, is due to depart later this year. Klein will join Westpac as its chief growth and marketing officer later this year.
IAG has also recently acquired the insurance business of the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ), announcing it will buy 90% of the business at the end of last year, with an option to buy the remaining 10% after two years. The deal will be finalised in late 2025, subject to ACCC approval.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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