OPR announces senior staff changes including the addition of Melissa Cullen and promotion of Dan Young
WPP AUNZ public relations agency, OPR, has hired a new managing partner in Melissa Cullen, and promoted Dan Young to the newly created role of chief digital officer.
Cullen’s new role will see her take the lead on the Microsoft account, whereas Young will be tasked with enhancing the agency’s integrated digital services.
OPR has changed up its leadership structure with new roles for Ben Cooper, Melissa Cullen and Dan Young
Cullen has just finished a two-year stint consulting in strategic communications. Previously, she spent fourteen years as co-founder and managing director of Res Publica, where she worked on brands including Lion, Unilever, Westpac, Jurlique, Priceline and Gatorade.
Cullen said of her appointment: “OPR is an agency I’ve respected for many years, so the opportunity to join them at a time of continued growth and innovation and lead a brand like Microsoft, was a very attractive proposition.”
Young has been with OPR since early 2017 as a director of social and digital strategy. He has previously worked at Brightpoint Digital, eBay and Burson-Marsteller. During his time at OPR, Young has help launch an influencer offering and a B2B performance marketing product.
Young spoke of the need for increasing the digital capacity of the agency to meet clients’ needs.
“We’re seeing increasing demand from our clients for integrated, audience led campaigns that connect earned with owned and paid media to deliver results,” he said.
“We’ve grown our digital, creative and content capability and will continue to attract specialists that can drive growth and deliver innovation both in how we work as an agency and the type of work we do for clients.”
OPR CEO, Richard Brett, added: “Our goal is to keep growing and maintaining our position as the largest and most specialised integrated communications agency in Australia to one that leads with data, creativity, integrated campaigns and effectiveness. Dan is instrumental in leading our integrated digital offering from one that is aligned to a primary channel offering.”
Also joining OPR is Ben Cooper as associate director of creative and digital.
Cooper is returning to OPR after a two years in Los Angeles at Netflix in the global brand and communications team, and five months of freelancing in the UK. Cooper was previously at Pulse, part of OPR, first as an account director and later as a senior account director.
Brett said of the staff changes: “We’re really excited about Mel joining us to lead Microsoft, one of our longstanding and strategic clients. Additionally, the new role of chief digital officer for Dan enhances our integrated digital services capabilities and recognises his value to the agency and our clients.
“Ben re-joining in the new role of associate director of creative and digital, will add additional international experience and fresh digital insights into the agency.
“Mel is an experienced leader who thrives on the challenge of leading groups and individuals, drives collaboration and excellence in client service. We’re excited to have her on board.”
In August, OPR hired its first chief creative officer, Bridget Jung.
