OPR promotes John Harding-Easson to head of social
OPR has promoted senior digital strategist, John Harding-Easson, to head of social.
Harding-Easson has been with OPR since 2018 and steps up to the role as the agency looks to combine growth and innovation in its offering.
OPR CEO, Richard Brett, said Harding-Easson skills made him the right man for achieving the agency’s objective.
“I’m delighted we’re able to support talented professionals with new opportunities within the business. John’s promotion reflects an increase in demand from our clients for integrated, audience-led campaigns that connect earned with owned and paid media to deliver results,” Brett said.
“His ability to combine great audience insights, a deep knowledge of social platforms with a thoughtful strategic approach and a collaborative and effective method to high-quality content production will help drive growth and deliver innovation in the type of work we do for our clients.”
John Harding-Easson
Harding-Easson will work across OPR’s blue chip client roster of American Express, BCG, KFC and Tourism Australia as well as its public sector accounts.
Prior to OPR he spent three years at Qantas in marketing and communications, and two years with the Australian Labor Party.
In addition, OPR’s consumer brand marketing arm, Pulse, has hired Cody Desmond as culture editor.
Cody Desmond
Desmond’s position has been created to reinforce Pulse’s focus on culturally-relevant creative thinking. Managing director, Jacqui Abbott said behavioural changes that arose in 2020 drove the need for Desmond’s strategic hire.
“2020 fundamentally changed the way we ‘internet’ and as a result we saw societal, business, political and pop culture accelerate in surprising ways,” she said.
“This is a strategic hire for us as we continue to transform Pulse into a content-first agency that is solely focused on building culturally relevant creative ideas that drive true clout for brands. The role of culture editor will be to look at ways to make, break and shape culture for the brands we represent such as KFC, Tourism Australia and Tinder.
“Cody brings incredible experience in this space and we are delighted he has joined our growing team.”
Desmond joins from Connecting Plots where he was a senior account manager on the Menulog account. His background in entertainment and culture also includes working with Red Bull at Bolster Group and Netflix whilst at We Are Social.
