High St-based indie creative agency Little Giant has signed Erik Hay as Creative Director. He previously held creative leadership roles at Saatchi & Saatchi London, Publicis Melbourne and Clemenger BBDO Wellington before a two-year stint running a 14-strong team at Weta Workshop Wellington.
He brings to Little Giant extensive experience in crafting original and innovative concepts for a range of brands including Tourism Victoria, NZTA, NZ Post, Cadbury, Virgin Mobile, Paramount Pictures and Adidas.
“It’s terrific to have joined Little Giant,” Hay says. When I first met Mark and the crew, I was impressed with their considered, professional approach, quality work, and positive, collaborative outlook. There’s real momentum and a heap of talent here. I’m looking forward to seeing what more we can do for our clients.”
‘A breakthough moment’
Little Giant ceo Mark Hurley describes the appointment as a breakthrough moment for the independent creative agency.
“We are extremely excited to have someone of Erik’s experience and intellect leading our creative department,” he said. “As a creative agency that’s digitally-led in our ideas and execution, we needed a CD that not only had extensive experience crafting brilliant creative concepts, and leading senior creative teams, but also understood the implications of emerging technology on the way brands communicate.
“Erik’s experience and expertise uniquely traverse both creative ideation and technology, making him a perfect fit for our modern approach to the agency model. We’re thrilled to have him as part of the team.”
Agency grew fast
The appointment of Erik Hay follows an influx to the independent agency, with Ian Howard, Liam Coxon, Danica Paki, Tanja Seselj and Richie Bramley all joining in the last 12 months.
About Little Giant
Little Giant is an independent full-service creative and innovation agency that helps brands and organisations transform for and communicate in the connected age. They work with some leading local and international brands such as Marketo, Visa, Les Mills, Air New Zealand, Spark and Rocket Lab.
They design engaging brand communications and experiences, build beautiful products and services, and implement cross-channel, digitally-led campaigns. Little Giant is New Zealand’s fastest growing independent agency and was named #26 on the Deloitte Fast 50 in 2015.
Adshel ‘excited’ by Gibbons’ arrival
Adshel NZ has appointed Elaine Gibbons to the role of head of marketing & partnerships, reporting to sales & marketing director Ben Gibb.
She will be responsible for continuing to build Adshel’s profile within the NZ media market, supporting product launches, new initiatives, and Adshel’s innovation agenda, ensuring Adshel’s take to market is best in class.
Her role includes responsibility for Adshel’s expanding research and insights programme, taking a lead in the data roll-out. She will also support client partnership development as Adshel looks to develop tier 1 media supplier relationships with key advertisers.
Elaine Gibbons has over 17 years’ experience in media agencies in NZ and the UK, in both strategic and client lead roles, most recently holding the position of chief client officer at Mindshare.
“We are very excited to have Elaine on board, with her wealth of experience in the world of media agencies,” said Gibb.
“Her professional focus has been contributing to and developing communications strategies, taking a particular interest in how trends in technology drive changes in audience behaviour. Elaine’s understanding of what motivates consumers will add value to Adshel’s digital, data and audience insight ambitions, bringing new ideas that will be invaluable in supporting our current and planned business growth.
Smart
“This is a significant appointment for Adshel,” Gibb said. “We are pleased to have someone with Elaine’s expertise joining the team, and I am sure we will see a positive response from the market as a result”.
Elaine Gibbons said: “It’s a hugely exciting time for our industry with more innovation, data, tech, content and collaboration than ever before – presenting great opportunities. I am thrilled to be joining Adshel, a company which is experiencing unprecedented growth and leading the sector with digital innovation. Adshel is a smart, forward-thinking business, with highly-skilled and passionate people, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
She starts at Adshel in one month – on 29 May.
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