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Month in a Minute: February’s biggest agency stories

Mumbrella wraps up the biggest news of the month across media, creative and PR. In February, Big Red announced its new CEO, 72andSunny and Optus parted ways, David Nobay announced his exit, Red Agency hired a CEO, IPG Mediabrands' Danny Bass resigned announced the SA Government announced its roster of agencies

February’s creative agency wrap:

1.72andSunny and Optus parted ways

After less than a year 72andSunny saw its relationship with one of its biggest clients come to an end.

2. Dan Ingall joined Big Red as CEO

Succeeding Bridget Cleary, Cummins & Partners’ Dan Ingall joined Big Red as its new CEO.

3. Seamus Higgins and Ant Melder exited Host/Havas following creative restructure

Higgins and Melder’s departure came one month after the agency made redundancies following the loss of its biggest account, Defence Force Recruiting.

4. 303 MullenLowe, MediaHub and Fujitsu General ended their 10 year relationship

In a statement, 303 MullenLowe CEO Nick Cleaver, said: “Fujitsu has chosen to adopt a different agency engagement model and as such we made the decision not to participate.

5. Marcel’s founder David Nobay announced his departure

Nobay, who was previously the creative chairman at Droga5 Australia, set up the Sydney branch of Publicis Groupe’s Marcel in 2015. At the time, Nobay brought over Droga5′s last remaining client, Tiger Beer, to set up the new shop.

6. 72andSunny’s ECD Micah Walker departed

After joining from Wieden + Kennedy Portland, Walker left the agency after eight months in the role.

7. CHE Proximity won Aussie Home Loans’ creative account

Prior to appointing CHE Proximity, Aussie Home Loans worked with creative agency Special Group.

8. Vanessa Nicol became CHE Proximity Sydney’s managing director 

Nicol joins CHE Proximity from New Zealand where she was a managing partner at Clemenger Group for nearly three years.

9. Seamus Higgins joined R/GA as its regional chief creative officer

Higgins joins R/GA after a series of change for the agency which saw its VP MD of R/GA Australia Rebecca Bezzina and its regional ECD VP Bob Mackintosh, depart.

February’s PR agency wrap:

1. Red Agency recruited Grey Group’s Sarah Trombetta as new CEO

Trombetta succeeds James Wright, who was promoted to global chairman of Havas PR Collective and CEO of Havas PR for North America in July.

2. Access-dgc reverted to Access PR brand as its CEO Nicola Patterson resigned

In June 2017, Kerekes announced she would be moving to New York to work with Samantha DiGennar, founder of NYC agency DiGennaro Communications (DGC), as executive vice president and managing director.

Nichola Patterson Andrea Kerekes

3. Haystac hired Attention+Influence’s Simone Pipkorn as its MD

The appointment comes three months after Haystac restructured its national leadership team and appointed Haylie Marchant to national head of strategy, Kate Ward as Brisbane GM and Nicole Hamilton as GM of Haystac Melbourne.

4. Lori Susko joined 303 MullenLowe as managing partner of PR and social 

Susko, who was previously Kite Communications’ GM, joined 303 MullenLowe’s PR arm Creature after Lee Robson exited as its managing director and managing partner of communications.

5. Best & Less assigned InsideOut PR to its PR account

The appointment will see InsideOut PR handle Best & Less’ internal and external communications and publicity.

6. Res Publica’s Kristy Meudell joined Destination NSW as director of PR

Meudell was the head of consumer PR at Res Publica for just over a year after joining the agency from Gate 7 where she was an account director for Visit California.

7. Ad agency KWP acquired PR agency O’Rourke Public Relations

The deal will see O’Rourke Public Relations’ founder Rebecca O’Rourke become KWP’s director of marketing and communications.

February’s media agency wrap

1. IPG Mediabrands’ CEO Danny Bass resigned

“At the end of last year I spoke to Leigh Terry (CEO, IPG Mediabrands APAC) about my plans for the future. Leigh was totally understanding and we both agreed that I’d leave Mediabrands in the coming months,” Bass said in a statement.

2. SA Government assigned Carat Adelaide, Reprise and Wavemaker to its media account

The appointments will see the three agencies on a roster managing the SA Government’s media planning and buying for brand campaigns.

3. OMG brought Hearts & Science brand to Australia and retired the m2m brand

Wendy Gower, m2m Sydney managing director, will remain as MD for Hearts & Science Sydney. Managing director of m2m Melbourne, Richard Smith, will take over the Hearts & Science MD role in Melbourne.

4. Initiative made its Sydney GM Nick Wokes redundant

“As we continue to evolve our competitive positioning in market, we are also adapting our structure to ensure it meets future needs and opportunities for clients. In this process, the role of Initiative Sydney General Manager has been made redundant,” an Initiative spokesperson said in a statement.

5. Paykel Media was bought by barter company Active International

Paykel Media, which was founded in 1999 and has offices in both Sydney and Melbourne, will now join a global network of more than 500 staff across 14 countries.

6. Ex-OMG CEO Cheuk Chiang joined Mutiny 

Chiang stepped down from his role at Omnicom in April last year after spending five years at the helm and a decade with the group.

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