Red Havas practice head joins Finder as head of PR and communications
Finder has appointed Adam Freedman as its new head of PR and communications for Australia, effective immediately.
The announcement comes after Bessie Hassan, the previous person in that role, was promoted to the new role of global head of communications.
Adam Freedman
Freedman joins Finder from Red Havas, most recently as practice head, where he was also on the Sydney PR board. He had been at the agency since 2012, and had worked with brands such as BIG W, Booking.com, Ola, Unilever, Lion, and Sanitarium.
Freedman led the PR campaign for the Palau Pledge initiative, which won seven Lions at the 2018 Cannes Lions.
Chris Ellis, CEO at Finder Australia, said of the appointment: “We’re thrilled to have Adam join us and help find new and compelling ways to share the Finder story with even more Australians.
“Adam is a passionate communications leader with a thirst for success so I’m excited to see him lead the team forward. He has a strong pedigree in creating unique and memorable campaigns and stories that get people talking and create impact. We’re looking forward to seeing him elevate our communications strategy and illustrate how and why Finder should be the number one choice to support Australians with their financial decision-making.”
On his appointment, Freedman said: “As a long-time Finder fan and someone who has a big interest in personal finance, I’m delighted to join the Finder crew and show how the brand can make a real difference in people’s lives and set them up for success.
“Finder is an exciting business with a supremely talented team of experts who well and truly know their stuff and have a commitment to continuous innovation. I’m looking forward to harnessing their expertise and collective ambition, taking the communications strategy to another level to hopefully capture the imagination of Australians and get people thinking about their finances in new and different ways.”
Chris Ellis was appointed CEO at Finder in March 2020 after an 18-month search.
Steve Fontanot, managing director at Red Havas, said: “I’m very happy for Adam on the announcement of his new role. We’re grateful to him for his enormous contribution to Red Havas during his 9-years here. Finder is a great, and growing, Aussie brand; we wish him all the best.
“Rather than replace Adam’s role, we have created the senior role of executive director PR, Sydney. This person will oversee a large team of tech, B2B, consumer and corporate PR practitioners, taking an integrated and client-centric approach. They will also work closely with our social and brand experience teams. We officially started recruiting for this role two weeks ago; interviews have already begun, with some great candidates having applied.”
