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OMD’s group strategy head Mat Rawnsley joins The Hallway as strategy director

Independent creative agency The Hallway has hired Mat Rawnsley, OMD’s former group head of strategy, as strategy director saying he is “the unicorn” the agency was searching for.

Prior to his three-year stint at OMD, Rawnsley was head of media and comms planning at The Monkeys.

In his new role, Rawnsley will lead the strategy across The Hallway’s key clients including Google, Disney, UNSW, and NSW government, also overseeing the agency’s programmatic and analytics offering.

The agency hopes Rawnsley will build on their Create & Connect model – combining data and creativity – to deliver advertising and communications to clients.

Rawnsley said he could see the potential for The Hallway to “redefine the role of agencies in the marketing lineup”.

“I’m excited about joining an entrepreneurial agency like The Hallway who really commit to delivering value to clients, with a focus on results, beyond single campaigns,” Rawnsley said.

“I can see so many opportunities for us to redefine the role of agencies in the marketing lineup, as brands appreciate the power of working with a commercially minded team of creative and strategic thinkers who understand both audiences and channels.”

Simon Lee, executive creative director and partner at The Hallway said Rawnsley was the “unicorn” the agency was searching for.

“We interviewed a lot of different candidates for this role, all of them with impressive credentials.

“But when we met Mat, we knew that he was the unicorn we were searching for.

“He understands data and communication planning, believes in creativity, embraces the commercial imperative for successful client relationships, and has fire in his belly,” Lee said.

Lee says the Create & Connect model relies on building teams that understand and can work with data.

“Increasingly data is the springboard for creativity and we have always believed the power is in elegantly combining the two without sacrificing quality. The real benefit of the Connect approach is our ability to deliver data-driven creative solutions faster, combined with the ability to optimise our work based on real-time insights.”

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